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Fall  in  Angeles 

The  Autumn  '98  meeting  of  the  LCSNA  took  place 
over  the  weekend  of  November  7-8  in  the  Los  Angeles  en- 
virons. On  Saturday,  after  viewing  a  small  exhibit  with  a  big 
title  ("Snarks,  Jabberwocks,  Crocodiles,  &  Mice  Tails: 
Lewis  Carroll,  the  Poet  and  the  Parodist,  Illuminated")  at 
the  Charles  Young  Research  Library  at  U.C.L.A.,  we  mo- 
seyed over  to  the  Faculty  center  where  we  ate  lunch,  which 
soon  morphed,  amid  the  detritus  of  our  leftovers,  into  our 
meeting.  Dan  Singer,  who  has  been  an  "Imagineer"  (theme 
park  designer)  for  ten  years  for  the  Disney  organization, 
gave  the  opening  talk,  "Disney's  Alice  in  Theme  Parks  & 
Beyond",  which  was  bounteously  illustrated  with  rarely  seen 
historical  photographs  from  Disney's  slide  archive. 

Daniel's  apologia  for  what  is  perceived  by  purists 
as  "too  obnoxious,  too  American,  too  un-Carrollian"  is 
based  on  Disney's  being  "responsible  for  introducing  the 
story  to  more  people  than  any  other  source".  His  AW  ride- 
through  attraction  is  visited  by  four  million  people  a  year, 
and  the  video  has  been  consis- 
tently at  the  top  of  the  family 
programming  charts  for  17 
years.  Dan  gave  a  history  of  the 
film,  starting  in  1938  with  the 
story  development  meetings, 
and  taking  us  through  its  1951 
release  which  he  called  "faith- 
ful to  the  spirit  of  the  book"  and 
"a  masterpiece  of  the 
animator's  art".  This  begat 
storybooks,  dolls,  parade  floats, 
rubber-headed  character  cos- 
tumes, and  on  and  on. 

As  an  Imagineer,  Dan's 
focus  was  of  course  on  the 
theme  rides  —  from  the  1955 
spinning  teacup  ("The  Mad  Tea  Party")  through  the  1958 
ride-through  "crude  and  closely  tied  to  its  carnival  spook- 
house  roots"  and  its  admirable  upgrade  in  1984  ("fully-di- 
mensional props  and  figures,  excellent  art  direction,  and 
dazzling  special  effects").  There  are  also  a  walk-through  at- 
traction in  Disneyland  Paris,  and  Tea  Party  rides  in  Florida 
and  Tokyo,  which  has  an  Animatronic  show  called  The 
Mickey  Mouse  Review,  with  Alice  surrounded  by  flowers 
singing  "All  in  the  Golden  Afternoon". 

A  small  detour  into  the  merchandising  was  given: 
after  bemoaning  the  lack  of  a  "Caucus  Race  action-figure 
play  set",  he  did  recommend  two  recently  released  items 
of  great  interest:  the  laserdisk  with  not  only  the  restored 
print  of  the  film,  but  concept  art,  storyboards,  film  trailers, 
television  specials,  and  unused  music  and  animation  seg- 
ments .  Dan  speculated  on  the  enduring  qualities  of  Disney 's 
adaptation,  and  posited  that  they  often  used  it  "as  a  meta- 
phor for  a  journey  into  the  unknown"  -  e.g.  when  a  theme- 
park  guest  is  approaching  an  interactive  computer  game  for 
the  first  time,  using  the  brave  character  of  little  Alice  helps 
him  or  her  to  feel  comfortable  in  a  strange  land. 


He  then  shared  with  us  some  rarities:  a  1954  Jello 
commercial  ("Was  it  the  smile  on  my  Cheshire  Cat  or  my 
Jello?"),  another  with  an  animated  sequence  of  the  Gryphon 
and  the  Mock  Turtle  (which  never  made  it  into  the  movie), 
and  a  psychedelic  misch-masch  of  Disney  animation 
matched  to  the  Jefferson  Airplane's  "White  Rabbit"  slated 
for  a  proposed  channel  called  "DTV"  -  the  channel  never 
made  it.  Dan's  clear  love  of  the  material,  extraordinary 
slides,  and  easy  wit  made  this  a  most  enjoyable  presenta- 
tion. 

Michael  Dylan  Walsh,  an  editor  for  IDG  Books 
Worldwide  (publisher  of  the  "For  Dummies"  titles),  editor 
of  the  poetry  journal  Tundra,  and  assistant  editor  of  Spring, 
the  journal  of  the  E.  E.  Cummings  Society,  presented  "Trains 
to  Moscow:  A  Comparison  of  Lewis  Carroll's  Russian 
Journal  and  E.E.Cummings'  EimF,  which  compared  and 
contrasted  the  two  journeys  and  their  resultant  literary  out- 
puts. (Eimi  {eluou}  is  Greek  for  "I  am".) 

"In  January  of  1 898,  one  hundred  years  ago,  a  popu- 
lar nonsense  writer  we 
know  as  Lewis  Carroll  died 
in  Guildford,  Surrey;  he 
was  an  idiosyncratic  icon 
of  the  Victorian  age.  Four 
years  earlier  and  a  conti- 
nent away,  Edward  Estlin 
Cummings  was  born  in 
Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, spending  his  life 
overturning  and  escaping 
his  Victorian  New  England 
upbringing.  Both  men 
wrote  poetry.  Both  wrote 
verse  enjoyed  by  children. 
Both  delighted  in  visual 
poetry,  word  play,  humor, 
word  inventions,  and  individualistic  rule-breaking.  Both  also 
excelled  in  other  arts  -  Carroll  as  one  of  Victorian  England's 
preeminent  amateur  photographers,  Cummings  as  an  abstract 
expressionist  painter... In  addition  to  these  affinities,  both 
men  published  diaries  of  trips  to  Russia...." 

Dodgson's  diary  of  his  1867  trip  "is  somewhat 
pedestrian  and  noninventive,  yet  remains  consistently  read- 
able and  engaging";  Cummings'  report  of  his  193 1  trip,  which 
is  a  ten-fold  expansion  of  his  original  diary,  is  given  a  mythic 
framework  and  has  been  called  "a  tough  read".  Cummings 
believed  he  was  visiting  an  underworld;  Dodgson  wrote  a 
straightforward  and  amusing  account.  Dodgson  came  back 
educated  and  entertained;  Cummings  experienced  a  turning 
point  in  the  development  of  his  art  and  political  attitudes. 
Of  course,  Dodgson's  experience  of  Czarist  Russian  and 
Cummings'  of  an  oppressed  Communist  nation  are  not  a 
simple  contrast;  similarly  their  preparations  (Cummings 
having  studied  Russian),  mind-sets  and  religious  and  politi- 
cal feelings  before  they  set  out  were  quite  different.  And 
when  they  returned,  Dodgson  felt  only  "relief,  and  had  his 
diary;  Cummings  underwent  an  "epiphany"  and  re-worked 


Excuse  me,  may  1  see  your  invitation? 


his  material  into  an  impenetrable  morass  of  prose.  For  those 
interested  in  further  study,  Michael  said  that  an  annotated 
volume  of  Eimi  is  due  out  this  year. 

Next,  Anashia  Plackis  of  State  University  of  New 
York  at  Stony  Brook,  opening  with  a  poignant  reminder  that 
this  was  Dodgson's  death  centenary  ("Aicouia  tou  r\  yvryn\" 
-  "May  he  always  be  remembered!"),  provided  us  with  an 
extended  gloss  on  his  Russian  Journey  and  its  implications 
for  his  personal  theology.  Opposed  to  the  ritualism  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church,  spiritual  heir  to  the  "purifications" 
of  the  Oxford  Movement  ,  CLD  was  most  curious  about 
the  Eastern  Orthodoxy,  and  so  traveled  throughout  Europe 
and  Russia  at  the  invitation  of  his  friend  Liddon. 

Anashia  traced  the  history  of  the  Eastern  branch 
of  the  Church,  from  the  literally  "underground"  heterodox- 
ies (early  Christians  often  having  to  meet  in  caves)  and  its 
spread  through  Rome  and  Greece,  Byzantium 
(Constantinople)  and,  ultimately,  Russia;  always  keeping  a 
parallel  track  with  what  was  happening  in  the  West  (Luther 
and  Protestantism,  the  formation  of  the  Anglican  Church). 

Her  "diversions  and  digressions"  included  Milton 
and  his  sectarian  movement  (the  poet  /  author  as  priest); 
the  theme  of  the  usurper  in  Sylvie  and  Bruno  (the  useless- 
ness  of  kings);  the  apostolic  succession  by  laymen  (and 
CLD  as  deacon,  not  priest);  Tolstoy  and  his  championing 
of  religions  freedom;  why  Christ  Church  scholars  were 
"students",  not  "fellows";  Coleridge  as  the  reconciler  of 
faith  and  science;  Swift  and  his  parables;  and  what  she 
termed  Dodgson's  apologia  as  embodied  in  this  "hiero- 
glyphic emblem",  in  which,  by  rejecting  the  outer  costume, 
he  symbolically  confessed  his  faith. 


scribed  these  latter  in  great  detail,  and  then  focused  on  a 
particular  one,  The  Silver  King,  written  in  1882  by  Henry 
Arthur  Jones,  of  which  Dodgson  saw  six  performances  over 
eleven  years. 


Charlie  Lovett,  LCSNA  President-emeritus  and 
author  of  Alice  on  Stage  -  A  History  of  the  Early  Theatri- 
cal Productions  of  AW  and  the  article  "Charles  L.  Dodgson 
and  the  Theatre"  ,  gave  a  most  amusing  talk  titled  "Lewis 
Carroll's  Favorite  Play,  or  the  Golden  Don  and  The  Silver 
King  -  An  Examination  of  Henry  Arthur  Jones' 
Groundbreaking  Melodrama  and  an  Analysis  of  its  Attrac- 
tion for  Charles  L.  Dodgson".  The  talk  was  illuminated  by 
many  photographs  of  Victorian  actors  and  actresses. 

Dodgson  was  an  ardent  theater-goer,  who,  in  42 
years,  saw  over  500  theatrical  performances,  many  of  which 
included  more  than  one  play.  It  was  his  primary  leisure  ac- 
tivity. His  tastes  ran  from  Shakespeare  to  operettas,  panto- 
mimes, contemporary  plays,  and  melodramas.  Charlie  de- 


"To  the  modern  reader,  The  Silver  King  is  high  Vic- 
torian melodrama,  full  of  what  we  would  see  as  unnatural 
diction,  improbable  events,  unlikely  coincidences,  and  char- 
acters who  are  either  fully  good  or  wholly  evil.  It  is  not 
Ibsen  or  Shaw,  and  it  is  certainly  not  Mamet  or  Gurney.  But 
to  the  playgoers  of  1 882,  The  Silver  King  represented  a 
departure  from  the  norm  in  melodrama.  True,  the  basic  melo- 
dramatic characteristics  are  there:  a  cast  made  up  of  heroes 
and  villains;  a  pathetic  heroine  with  children  who  faces  the 
possibility  of  eviction  by  her  villainous  landlord;  charac- 
ters who  soliloquize  to  reveal  their  motives;  and  a  sensa- 
tional plot.  Yet  The  Silver  King  was  a  significant  step  away 
from  traditional  melodrama  and  towards  the  realistic  drama 
of  the  late  1 9th  and  early  20th  centuries.  The  dialogue  is 
more  natural  than  previous  pieces;  sensational  events  such 
as  the  train  wreck  take  place  offstage,  rather  than  being  ex- 
hibited with  complicated  stage  machinery;  and  the  pathos 
of  the  piece  is  realistically  derived.  As  one  historian  wrote, 
'Though  the  characters  are  the  old  stock  types,  they  talk 
like  people.'" 

Charlie's  recounting  of  the  plot  and  some  of  the 
dialog  which  sounded  stilted,  contrived,  and  somewhat  silly 
to  our  modern  ears,  emphasized  how  Dodgson's  would  have 
heard  differently.  (And  among  the  initial  London  cast  was 
little  Phoebe  Carlo,  who  would  originate  the  role  of  Alice 
in  Saville-Clarke's  1887  adaptation.) 

Dodgson  had  once  proposed  writing  a  melodrama, 
to  be  called  Morning  Clouds,  in  an  1 866  letter  to  Tom  Tay- 
lor. It's  similarities  to  The  Silver  King  were  apparent.  He 
also  discussed  why  this  latter  play  so  touched  Dodgson, 
which  was  particularly  apparent  in  Charlie's  dramatic  reci- 
tation of  a  poignant  scene  where  little  Cissy  sits  on  the  knee 
of  a  kindly  old  man  (who  is  actually  her  long-lost  father, 
unbeknownst  to  her),  who  befriends  her,  all  the  while  forced 
to  hide  the  profound  depth  of  his  own  feelings  toward  her,  a 


scene  with  which  Dodgson  could  identify  with  all  his  heart. 

We  adjourned,  only  to  reassemble  that  evening  in 
the  Pasadena  "digs"  of  Dan  Singer,  the  outside  of  whose 
house  gave  no  indication  of  the  fantastic  collections  of  the- 
atrical memorabilia  and  Lewis  Carroll  which  he  had  on  dis- 
play inside.  We  thank  Dan  for  his  gracious  hospitality  and 
camaraderie. 

The  second  half  of  our  meeting  took  place  in  the 
Huntington  Library  in  San  Marino  (just  outside  of  Pasadena) 
the  following  day.  It's  a  spectacularly  gorgeous  estate,  with 
many  fine  botanical  gardens  and  art  collections  (although 
their  major  collection  of  books  and  incunabula  was  unfor- 
tunately in  storage  at  the  time,  making  room  for  a  tempo- 
rary exhibition  on  George  Washington). 

After  a  "high  tea"  at  their  restaurant,  we  went  to  an 
elegantly-appointed  meeting  room,  where  a  small  exhibit 
of  Carroll  material  was  to  be  seen.  In  the  three  cases  were 
letters,  rare  editions,  and  so  on.  One  of  the  letters  was  to 
Gertrude  Thompson,  dated  27  January  1 897,  and  proposed 
a  frontispiece  to  a  book  of  "Original  Games  and  Puzzles" 
which  would  consist  of  "2  trees,  the  interval  between  them 
being  the  outline  of  some  well-known  figure  from  Won- 
derland. I  enclose  a  scrawl. . ."  His  illustration,  (#HM 36008) 
reproduced  by  permission  of  The  Huntington  Library,  San 
Marino,  California,  is  below. 


On  to  business:  Charlie  Lovett  of  the  Publications 
committee  made  some  announcements  about  the  pamphlet 
series,  the  25th  anniversary  booklet,  CLD's  uncollected 
poetry,  and  the  Warren  Weaver  material.  Vice-President 
Stephanie  Stoffel  announced  that  the  Spring  meeting  would 
be  in  the  Baltimore  /  Washington  area,  perhaps  with  a  theat- 
rical flavor,  and  the  Fall  '99  meeting  is  scheduled  for 
Toronto,  and  we  will  be  back  in  New  York  in  Y2K.  She  also 
talked  about  the  fourth  Maxine  Schaefer  Memorial  read- 
ing, which  took  place  the  day  before  (see  "Ravings",  p.6) 

August  Imholtz  of  the  Election  committee  then 
presided  over  our  bi-annual  elections.  The  slate  he  presented 
was:  Stephanie  Stoffel,  President;  Mark  Burstein,  Vice- 


President;  Fran  Abeles,  Treasurer  (continuing);  Ellie 
Luchinsky,  Secretary  (continuing),  and  two  new  Directors 
were  proposed:  Pat  Griffin  and  Germaine  Weaver.  Despite 
a  last-minute  candidature  from  Jesse  "The  Body"  Ventura, 
the  new  officers  were  elected  by  acclamation.  Stephanie 
said  it  would  be  "disrespectful  to  make  hay  out  of  the  fact 
that  there  was  a  woman  President"  (as  we  had  such  a  long 
tradition  of  service  from  Maxine  and  Ellie,  among  others), 
took  us  on  a  journey  of  what  things  were  like  a  century  be- 
fore, and  looked  forward  to  leading  us  into  the  new  millen- 
nium. 

The  first  speaker  was  our  new  V.P.,  who  held  forth 
on  an  aspect  of  popular  culture  in  his  talk  "Comic  Sensi- 
bilities: Alice  in  the  Funny  Pages".  With  a  slide  of  both  a 
Pogo  comic  strip  and  Alice's  Adventures  under  Ground 
showing,  he  said: 

"Behold  here:  a  work  of  art,  written  and  illustrated 
by  the  same  person,  a  product  of  acknowledged  genius 
aimed  somewhere  between  the  child  and  the  child  within, 
an  Aesopian  fairy  tale  set  in  a  magical  realm  where  animals 
can  talk.  Here  the  illustrations  and  the  text  are  intentionally 
and  inextricably  intertwined;  simple  enough  for  a  child  to 
read,  yet  capable  of  great  profundities  and  subversive  para- 
digms; innocent  and  fragile-looking,  but  canny,  deep,  and 
enormously  popular.  Mixing  images  and  dialog  with  flights 
of  fancy,  verse,  and  loving  commentary  on  the  foibles  of 
the  human  condition,  rejoicing  in  the  multilayered  mean- 
ings of  words,  and  delighting  the  eye  with  sumptuous  illus- 
trations which  replace  or  greatly  enhance  the  narrative  and 
descriptions  of  the  text,  the  medium  itself  is  often  looked 
down  upon  by  the  soi-disant  intelligentsia,  yet  is  guaran- 
teed to  outlast  their  effete  ramblings  by  many  millennia." 

He  talked  about  the  world  of  the  comic  strip  it- 
self, from  its  ancestry  in  the  ancient  world  of  cave  paint- 
ings through  scrolls  and  Renaissance  tapestries  up  to  19th 
century  etchings,  political  cartoons,  and  picture  stories  in 
England  and  Germany  and  through  what  we  would  consider 
comic  strips  "proper"  and  their  American  flowering.  He 
dwelt  on  the  history  of  newspaper  strips  and  comic  books, 
to  which  Alice  must  be  seen  as  a  precursor,  and  then  talked 
of  her  appearances  in  these  works,  from  newspaper  strips 
in  1938  to  date,  including  straight  adaptations  of  the  story, 
parodies,  "exploitations",  and  the  use  of  the  characters  in 
other  stories  (such  as  Batman  and  Superman  in  the  early 
1940s,  Flash  and  Elongated  Man  in  the  50's  and  60s),  the 
horror  genre,  erotica,  and  humor.  The  comics  in  question 
were  illustrated  with  slides  depicting  sample  pages  or  the 
cover.  He  digressed  a  bit  into  the  most  Carrollian  of  comic 
artists,  Walt  Kelly  (Pogo),  and  ended  his  talk  "And  as  we  sit 
thinking  uffishly  about  this  wonderful,  admirable,  transcen- 
dental, colorful,  respectable,  and  much  beloved  medium, 
what  shall  we  conclude?  In  the  words  of  the  first  strip  car- 
toonist, Rudolph  Topffer,  circa  1800,  'The  picture  story,  to 
which  the  criticism  of  art  pays  no  attention  and  which  rarely 
worries  the  learned,  has  always  exercised  a  great  appeal.' 
Or,  more  succinctly,  'What  is  the  use  of  a  book  without  pic- 
tures or  conversations?'" 


We  were  then  treated  to  a  fine  true-life  detective 
story  by  Hilda  Bohem,  retired  Special  Collections  Librar- 
ian of  U.C.L.  A.  She  began  by  narrating  an  amusing  (perhaps 
apocryphal)  story  from  the  time  of  the  Paramount  Alice  - 
how  the  director  (Norman  McLeod),  the  art  director  (Wil- 
liam Cameron  Menzies),  and  one  of  the  writers  (Joeseph 
Mankiewicz)  had  to  be  "locked  in  a  steel  vault"  here  at  the 
Huntington  because  they  had  insisted  on  seeing  the  original 
Alice  in  Wonderland  (the  Huntington  had  an  1 865),  not  re- 
alizing that  reproductions  of  it  could  be  had  for  a  dime. 


From  Paramount' s.4/j'ce  storyboard 

Her  story  began  with  a  phone  call  from  a  book 
dealer  friend,  who  had  acquired  a  copy  of  the  1933  screen- 
play, or  perhaps  more  properly,  the  storyboard.  A  thick  fo- 
lio volume  bound  in  3A  green  calf  was  produced,  with  the 
script  typed  in  the  lower  half,  and  a  line  drawing  at  the  top 
of  every  page.  A  new  illustrated  Alice?  A  great  treasure  in- 
deed, but  the  question  was,  who  was  the  illustrator? 

Her  first  suspect  was  the  aforementioned  Norman 
McLeod  who,  she  discovered,  in  fact  had  been  a  cartoonist 
(Slim  Pickens)  before  he  became  a  director.  Case  closed? 
She  thought  so. 

However,  her  journeys  to,  and  friends  at,  the  Spe- 
cial Collections  of  the  Academy  of  Motion  Picture  Arts 
and  Sciences'  Library  serendipitously  brought  fruit.  In  read- 
ing over  materials  related  to  the  production,  and  learning 
such  arcana  as  that  Charlotte  Henry  was  from  Brooklyn,  and 
had  gotten  a  terrible  rash  from  the  flamingos,  they  ultimately 
unearthed  a  second  copy  of  the  screenplay,  this  time  with 
the  inscription  "six  hundred  and  forty-two  illustrations  by . . . 
William  Cameron  Menzies".  Case,  at  last,  closed. 

Meanwhile,  during  the  course  of  these  lectures, 
curiosity  had  been  aroused  by  the  enormous  6'  x  4'  screen, 
amplifiers,  musical  instruments,  floodlights  and  so  on  which 
had  been  lying  on  the  floor  beside  the  dais.  Quickly  as- 
sembled, they  now  burst  into  life  with  a  Balinese  shadow- 
puppet  theater  presentation  Alice  in  the  Shadows.  This  was 


quite  in  keeping  with  our  Los  Angeles  setting  -  after  all,  a 
case  could  be  made  that  these  were  the  first  on-screen  "mo- 
tion pictures". 

Maria  Bodmann's  "Bali  and  Beyond"  is  a  modern 
working  of  an  ancient  ritual  entertainment,  the  Balinese 
shadow-puppet  play,  wherein  "lacy  shadow  images  are  pro- 
jected on  a  linen  screen  with  a  natural  oil  lamp  or  electric 
light."  Maria  was  the  "Dalang",  who  manipulated  the  color- 
fully-appointed carved  leather  figures,  and  gave  them  life 
through  her  theatrical  characterizations,  songs,  and  articu- 
lations of  the  puppets  themselves.  She  is  a  most  talented 
performer,  and  three  musicians  provided  live  accompani- 
ment. 

"Included  in  the  motif  is  a  late-sixties  Woodstock 
element,  a  ritually  oriented  culture  in  which  Alice  was  re- 
quired reading."  Instead  of  traditional  Gamelan  music,  we 
were  treated  to  psychedelic  renditions  of  "I  am  the  Wal- 
rus", "Lucy  in  the  Sky",  "White  Rabbit"  and  so  on.  In  the 
latter,  she  reminded  us  "what  the  Dormouse  said"  really  was 
..."treacle". 

It  is  difficult  to  convey  in  prose  the  delightful  magic 
of  that  event,  which  seemed  like  a  twilight  journey  into  a 
Mythic  realm.  Many  of  us  were  seated  like  "children  gath- 
ered 'round"  on  the  floor,  and  it  is  part  of  the  tradition  to 
wander  about  like  restless  kids  —  even  crawling  around  to 
peek  behind  the  screen  where  the  show  was  being  performed 
so  we  could  see  the  puppets,  scripts,  props,  and  performers 
in  action. 

The  first  figure  to  appear  on  screen  was  a  rawhide 
"boat  of  dreams"  which  led  us  on  the  episodic  journey.  The 
colorfully  painted  figures,  splendid  vocal  characterizations, 
and  incidental  music  enraptured  us,  with  the  freshness  of 
discovery  and  enchantment  of  children  seeing  "where 
childhood's  dreams  are  twined,  in  memory's  mystic  band". 

But  journeys,  even  "trips",  must  end;  and  so  we, 
reluctantly,  departed. 

1 .  It  is  available  at  Disney  stores,  or  by  mail  through  the  Whole  Toon 
Catalog  (see  "Leaves",  p.9) 


From  Paramount'S/4//ce  storyboard 


2.  The  Oxford,  or  Tractarian  movement,  which  began  about  1833 
and  ended  in  1 845  with  John  Henry  Newman's  conversion  to  Roman 
Catholicism,  was  founded  on  the  basis  of  antidisestablishmentarianism 
(of  the  Anglican  Church  of  Ireland).  Their  tracts  argued  in  general 
that  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England  rested  on  the 
modern  church's  position  as  the  direct  descendant  of  the  church  es- 
tablished by  the  Apostles,  adding  a  conservative  option  to  the  lively 
atmosphere  of  Victorian  religious  debate.  The  Victorians,  who  ab- 
horred the  atheism  of  the  Utilitarians  and  the  agnosticism  of  the  sci- 
entists, and  were  put  off  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Evangelicals,  found 
the  Broad  Church  too  latitudinarian  to  have  any  meaning  left  to  its 
doctrine  and  yet  could  not  stomach  going  over  to  Rome,  found  these 
High  Church  Anglicans  a  perfect  conservative  solution.  The 
Ecclesiological  movement,  which  wanted  more  ritual  and  religious 
decoration  in  churches  and  which  closely  associated  with  the  Gothic 
Revival,  was  a  natural  partner  to  Tractarianism  for  both  movements 
looked  back  to  the  Middle  Ages  as  a  time  when  the  Church  met  the 
needs  of  its  parishioners  both  religiously  and  aesthetically.  These 
movements  had  some  influence  upon  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brother- 
hood, which  also  looked  back  to  Raphael  and  his  medieval  precur- 
sors for  their  artistic  inspiration.  The  Oxford  Movement's  major  ad- 
herents were  John  Henry  Newman,  John  Keble,  and  Edward  Pusey. 
Henry  Liddon,  Pusey's  sympathetic  nineteenth  century  biographer 
[and  Dodgson's  traveling  companion],  argued  that  the  Evangeli- 
cal revival  was  a  reaction  against  the  Church's  teaching  of  a  loose 
natural  morality  which  ignored  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  took  form  both 
within  and  outside  of  the  Anglican  Church.  Although  critical  of  what 
he  considered  the  "one-sided"  nature  of  the  movement,  Liddon  treated 
it  almost  as  the  salvation  of  Anglicanism,  describing  Pusey's  attitude 
in  similar  terms:  "...and  to  the  last  day  of  his  life,  Pusey  retained  that 
'love  of  the  Evangelicals'  to  which  he  often  adverted,  and  which  was 
roused  by  their  efforts  to  make  religion  a  living  power  in  a  cold  and 
gloomy  age". 

[The  above  footnote  is  based  on  articles  by  Professors  Glenn 
Everett  and  Herbert  Schlossberg  in  the  "Religion"  section  of  the 
George  Landow's  wonderful  Victorian  Web.  www.stg.brown.edu/ 
projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/victov.html] 

3.  Alice  on  Stage  can  be  ordered  from  Charlie's  web  page  http:// 
members.aol.com/Charliel03/Pagel.html  or  10  Stump  Tree  Lane, 
Winston-Salem  NC  27106;  1.336.724.5627;  the  "CLD  and  the  The- 
atre" article  was  printed  in  the  Grolier  Club's  catalog  of  the  recent 
"C.L.Dodgson  (alias  'Lewis  Carroll')"  show  and  can  be  ordered  from 
our  Secretary. 


Ravings  from  the  Writing  Desk 

of  Stephanie  Stoffel 

Joel  Birenbaum's  ravings  have  been  so  very  enter- 
taining and  edifying  that  I  feel  quite  sheepish  having  to  re- 
place them  with  my  own  lunacies.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  held 
against  me  by  the  readership  of  the  KL  that  Joel  declines  to 
be  President-For-Life.  I  was  glad,  though,  to  recall  that  I 
have  this  forum,  because  in  describing  the  Los  Angeles 
meeting  to  a  friend  in  a  letter,  I  was  wishing  I  could  tell  the 
whole  LCSNA  about  a  portion  of  the  weekend  that  only  two 
of  us  had  experienced.  Suddenly  I  remembered  that  not  only 
could  I  write  a  column  for  the  KL  —  I,  in  fact,  had  to! 


Above  and  opposite:  bas  reliefs  in  the  Children's  Court  of  the  Los 
Angeles  Public  Library's  Central  branch 


For  David  Schaefer  and  me,  the  delightful  two-day 
extravaganza,  which  I  wish  all  of  you  could  have  attended, 
began  with  the  fourth  Maxine  Schaefer  Memorial  Children's 
Outreach  Fund  program  at  the  downtown  Los  Angeles  Pub- 
lic Library  on  Saturday  morning.  Everything  about  that  morn- 
ing added  tremendously  to  the  quality  of  my  visit  to  L.A., 
both  as  a  traveler  and  a  Carrollian.  We  had  left  Pasadena 
early,  anticipating  being  lost,  stuck  in  traffic,  or  in  search 
of  parking,  but  none  of  that  happened,  and  so  we  were  at  the 
library  well  before  Ilene  Abramson,  the  children's  librarian 
who  hosted  us. 

This  turned  out  to  be  a  plus,  however,  for  the  secu- 
rity guard  was  the  first  of  several  library  employees  we  met 
who  were  bursting  with  pride  over  their  wonderful  building. 
He  wound  up  showing  us  some  of  its  features  before  leav- 
ing us  with  Ms.  Abramson,  who  later  gave  us  a  tour.  It  would 
have  made  all  of  you  proud  to  see  how  happy  they  were  to 
have  us.  Ms.  Abramson  had  actually  baked  us  cookies,  which 
we  enjoyed  while  pasting  our  bookplates  into  the  copies  of 
Alice  that  would  be  given  away.  I  am  sure  I  have  never  be- 
fore been  urged  to  eat  in  a  library  by  a  librarian! 

The  children's  room  is  a  beautiful  facility  that  com- 
bines an  air  of  sophistication  and  specialness  with  welcom- 
ing, child-sized  fixtures.  We  visited  the  large  main  room, 
and  then  we  passed  through  a  smaller  computer  room  to 
another  larger  room  with  a  small  theater  at  one  end  and  easy 
chairs  grouped  at  the  other.  We  declined  the  theater  for  the 
more  interactive  feel  of  the  chairs,  which  proved  the  right 


choice,  as  we  wound  up  with  a  very  interactive  group!  Our 
last  Outreach  program  had  been  at  the  Children's  Museum 
of  Manhattan  and  was  really  an  Alice-based  romp  for  very 
small  children.  Here,  however,  we  had  children  from  pre- 
school age  through  a  fourteen-year-old  girl  who  had  recently 
written  a  paper  on  Lewis  Carroll,  parents  who  wanted  to 
stay  and  participate,  and  a  group  of  adult  students  who  were 
getting  class  credit. 

We  gave  them  a  reading  from  Alice  as  promised, 
but  quickly  moved  on  to  the  fun  part  —  taking  questions 
and  having  a  lively  group  discussion  about  Lewis  Carroll 
the  person,  the  story  of  Alice  in  Wonderland,  and  so  on. 
David  and  I  wished  for  reinforcements  from  the  LCSNA  as 
we  led  a  conversation  that  rapidly  addressed  many  different 
Carrollian  topics  and  operated  on  many  different  levels  of 
knowledge  and  ability. 
When  we  called  a  halt  due 
to  the  time  and  to  give 
books  to  the  children  who 
needed  to  leave,  we  con- 
tinued with  small-group 
and  individual  conversa- 
tions for  at  least  another 
half-hour.  I  wish  I  could 
convey  to  you  how  inter- 
esting the  questions  and 
observations  were  and 
how  the  whole  event 
crackled  with  energy. 

When  the  room 
had  almost  emptied  at 
noon,  Ms.  Abramson  of- 
fered to  show  David  and 
me  around  the  library  — 
the  downtown  LAPL  is,  to 
say  the  least,  we  11- worth 
seeing.  It  had  been  built  in 
1 908,  and  had  experienced 
a  devastating  fire  in  1986. 
At  that  time,  they  added  a 
second  building  which 
merged  into  the  repaired 
original  building  by  means 
of  a  slanting,  three-story 

atrium.  The  original  building  has  magnificent  mosaic  ceil- 
ings and  larger-than-life  Brandywine-ish  murals,  and  the  new 
building  offers  modern  facilities,  including  a  theater  where 
there  was  a  performance  going  on.  To  see  a  downtown  li- 
brary that  was  so  beautiful  and  so  fully  in  use  on  a  Saturday 
morning  added  even  more  to  the  excitement  of  our  day. 

As  we  raced  off  to  UCLA,  David  and  I  discussed 
our  morning,  and  how  the  Maxine  Schaefer  Fund  has  ex- 
ceeded all  expectations  the  Board  had  when  we  set  it  up  in 
the  fall  of  1996.  The  decision  to  use  the  money  that  had 
been  contributed  to  the  LCSNA  in  honor  of  Maxine  to  bring 
Lewis  Carroll  to  children  and  their  families  was  an  excel- 
lent one.  We  have  given  away  at  least  250  copies  of  the 


William  Morrow/Books  of  Wonder  edition,  mainly  to  indi- 
vidual children,  but  also  some  to  hosting  libraries  to  be  cir- 
culated. We  have  reached  children  and  their  families  in  New 
York  City,  Minnesota,  and  Los  Angeles,  and  promoted  an 
interest  in  who  Lewis  Carroll  was  and  what  his  books  can 
mean  to  us,  as  well  as  entertaining  and  engaging  children. 
Not  to  in  any  way  downplay  the  quality  or  worth  of  LCSNA 
meetings,  but  I  have  to  suspect  that  we  did  Lewis  Carroll's 
reputation  and  future  at  least  as  much  good  with  our  visit  to 
the  LA.  Public  Library  as  we  did  later  on  with  our  speeches. 
Our  encounter  with  the  lively  interest  that  "civil- 
ians" bring  to  a  discussion  about  Alice  and  Carroll  lead  David 
and  me  to  lament  that  the  LCSNA  as  a  whole  isn't  more 
aware  of  what  the  Maxine  Schaefer  Fund  has  been  up  to.  Its 
governing  committee,  which  presently  consists  of  David, 

Ellie  Schaefer-Salins, 
Mark  Burstein,  and  me, 
urges  members  to  come  to 
the  readings  and  see  whom 
we  are  reaching  and  to  par- 
ticipate in  this  fulfilling 
way  to  serve  the  Society's 
mission  to  promote 
awareness  of  Lewis 
Carroll.  We  would  also  be 
glad  for  members  to  con- 
tinue to  use  the  fund  as  a 
means  to  memorialize  or 
honor  people,  because  we 
would  like  this  to  be  per- 
manent activity  of  the 
LCSNA.  However,  even 
more  than  your  donations, 
we  would  like  you  to  be 
there  to  see  new  faces, 
young  and  old,  get  swept 
away  into  Wonderland. 
We've  been  there  so  long 
we  may  have  forgotten  the 
delight  of  falling  down  the 
rabbit  hole  for  the  first 
"       time. 

down 
down 
down 

In  other  news,  the  Spring  '99  meeting  will  be  on 
May  8th  at  the  College  of  Preachers  on  the  grounds  of  the 
National  Cathedral  in  Washington,  D.C.  We  have  a  meet- 
ing room  that  August  says  is  "right  out  of  Christ  Church", 
and  we  will  arrange  a  group  lunch  in  the  refectory.  Genevieve 
Smith  will  be  speaking  on  "Lewis  Carroll  and  Dreams",  we 
will  ask  one  of  the  canons  to  speak  to  us  briefly,  I  am  work- 
ing things  out  with  Robert  Phillips,  editor  of  Aspects  of 
Alice,  and  we  are  seeking  a  third  speaker.  We  will  be  arrang- 
ing a  Maxine  Schaefer  Outreach  event,  of  course. 


Tbe  Maxine  Schaefen  MemoHial 
Children's  Outneach  Fund 


o 


Leaves  from  the  Deanery  Garden 

I  have  just  received  my  copy  of  the  latest  Knight  Letter  , 
and  read  it  with  the  usual  interest  and  pleasure,  plus  the  ex- 
tra one  of  finding  my  lecture  at  the  Christ  Church  (Oxford) 
centenary  conference  favourably  mentioned  in  it,  though  I 
should  perhaps  correct  Cindy  Watter's  "Montesquieu"  (the 
XVIIIth  century  philosopher  who  wrote  Les  Lettres 
Persanes)  into  "Montesquiou"  (Robert,  comte  de 
Montesquiou-Fezensac,  1855-1921,  symbolist  writer  and 
paragon  of  the  French  fin-de-siecle  dandy). 

Regarding  Gary  Brockman's  query  in  the  same  issue  n°  58, 
p.  12, 1  would  like  to  add  to  your  very  well  informed  answer 
that  before  Leonard  Roberts's  fascinating  and  long  waited- 
for  catalogue  raisonne  of  the  works  of  Arthur  Hughes 
{Arthur  Hughes,  his  Life  and  Works,  Antique  Collectors' 
Club,  Woodbridge,  Suffolk  {UK}, 
1997,  ISBN  1-85149-262-3,  £45), 
very  few  (if  any)  of  us  knew  that 
"The  Lady  of  the  Lilacs"  (oil  on 
panel,  44.5  x  22.5  cm,  17'/2  x  9  in., 
arched  top)  was  in  fact  either  a  re- 
worked preliminary  study  for,  or  a 
partial  copy  commissioned  by  C.  L. 
Dodgson  himself  from,  a  larger 
work  entitled  "Silver  and  Gold" 
(1862-4,  oil  on  canvas,  99  x  67.5 
cm,  39  x  26'/2  in.,  exhib.  as  n°  486 
at  the  1864  Royal  Academy  sum- 
mer exhibition),  which  contrasted 
the  younger  character  (wearing  a 
crimson  dress  much  more  daring  — 
and,  to  my  mind,  ill-suited  to  the 
girl's  red  hair  —  than  the  white  and 
emerald  tints  of  C.L.Dodgson's 
more  virginal  protagonist's  gar- 
ments) to  an  old  lady  in  black.  Ad- 
ditional items  relating  that  painting 
to  the  traditional  vanitas  theme, 
such  as  a  peacock,  the  first-name 

"Amy"  carved  into  a  tree-trunk  behind  the  duenna,  and  scat- 
tered white  flowers  on  the  ground  at  their  feet,  are  of  course 
omitted  in  the  much  more  innocent  smaller  version.  (Cf. 
colour  plates  41,  42  &  43  on  pp.  80-1;  catalogue  numbers 
59,  59-1,  59-2,  59-3,  59-4  &  59-5  pp.  157-9). 

Though  C.L. Dodgson  never  commented  in  length  on 
Millais's  "Autumn  Leaves"  and  "Apple  Blossoms",  or 
"Spring",  only  mentioning  the  former  among  the  most  beau- 
tiful works  he  looked  forward  to  seeing  and  later  felt  elated 
at  having  been  able  to  contemplate  at  length,  at  James 
Leathart's  home  in  Newcastle  (diaries,  Tuesday  6th  Oct. 
1863  &  Sunday  2nd  Oct.  1864)  as  well  as  at  the  Fine  Art 
Society  Millais  Exhibition  of  1881  (diaries,  Tuesday  19th 
April  1881)  and  alluding  to  the  latter  in  passing  (unpublished 
diaries,  Monday  8th  April  1 867:  "I  saw  Mr  and  Mrs  Millais, 
his  brother  (Charles?)  and  one  of  her  sisters  {I  think  her 


C4//Jy*v*<» 


name  was  Louisa:  she  is  in  profile  in  'Apple  Blossoms'}."), 
he  was  obviously  deeply  attracted  to  such  melancholy  scenes 
reminding  the  viewer  of  the  fleeting  of  time  and  the  inevi- 
tability of  death,  one  of  the  major  themes  in  his  "serious" 
poetry  (which  Dr.  Selwyn  Goodacre  most  rightly  defended 
and  praised  at  Oxford  this  summer):  one  of  his  favourite 
paintings  by  Arthur  Hughes  at  the  1 865  Royal  Academy  was 
"The  Mower"  (diaries,  Tuesday  4th  July  1865,  colour  plate 
37  p. 78  in  Leonard  Roberts's  book),  which  depicts  a  mower 
sharpening  his  ominous  scythe  above  the  heads  of  three  little 
girls! 

But  the  picture  most  akin  to  "Silver  and  Gold"  in  theme  and 
treatment  which  he  singled  out  a  quarter  of  a  century  later 
was  Walter  Firle's  "Spring  and  Winter",  which  struck  him 
as  the  loveliest  picture  at  the  1888  French  Gallery,  where 

he  had  taken  Isa  Bowman:  it 
depicted  "an  old  woman  and 
a  beautiful  girl  playing  to 
her  on  harmonium"  (unpub- 
lished diaries,  Wednesday 
29th  August  1 888),  and  was 
favourably  reviewed  by  The 
Graphic  ,  which  stated  that 
"the  'naive'  simplicity  of 
the  young  girl  playing  the 
piano  beside  a  wide  window 
and  the  sympathetic  interest 
of  the  aged  matron  seated 
beside  her  are  admirably 
expressed"  (n°  956,  24th 
March  1888,  p.3 11)  and  by 
The  Athenaeum,  which 
wrote  that  "the  chiaroscuro 
and  even  the  effect  and 
colour,  though  rather  sad, 
are  suited  to  the  subject  and 
pathetic  in  themselves"  (n° 
3152,  24th  March  1888, 
p. 377).  Unfortunately,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  trace  any  reproduction,  either  as  a 
photograph  or  a  contemporary  engraving,  of  that  work  by  a 
quite  obscure  painter  of  German  origin. 

I  hope  those  bits  of  information  will  be  of  interest  to  the 
readers  of  a  future  issue  of  the  Knight  Letter,  and  congratu- 
late you  for  the  high  standards  of  that  journal,  and  for  your 
very  erudite  answers  to  members'  letters. 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

Hugues  Lebailly 
Reims,  France 
Hlebailly@aol.com 

Thank  you  for  your  beacon  of  scholarly  light  on  this  topic, 
so  thematically  important  to  understanding  Mr.  Dodgson. 
Readers  are  also  referred  to  a  short  article  with  a  repro- 
duction of  the  work  in  Knight  Letter  31,  Spring  '89. 


8 


I'm  staggered  by  the  thoroughness  and  generosity  of  your 
reply  to  my  September  spoutings  and  inquiries.  Your  ef- 
forts in  answering  my  every  question,  asked  or  unasked, 
about  "Girl  with  Lilacs"  (for  it  is  always  an  effort  to  find 
information,  however  nimble  and  erudite  one  is)  I  take  as  a 
great  kindness.  Your  suggetion  to  visit  Hughes'  painting  in 
Toronto  I  shall  obey,  perhaps  on  my  birthday  (a  date  that 
appears  in  AW,  if  I  may  boast).  The  articles  and  references 
you  noted  I  shall  seek  out  —  perhaps  even  looking  over  an 
adept's  shoulder  at  the  internet  sites.  My  deepest  thanks! 

Never  did  I  imagine  that  you  endorsed  the  "mad  as  an  adder" 
thesis  or  were  wrong  in  reporting  it.  I'm  sorry  if  I  gave  ei- 
ther impression.  And  I'm  sorry  it  wasn't  self-evident  that 
the  word-history  of  mad  I  presented  was  a  summary  of  the 
pertinent  entry  in  my  1973  OED.  Of  course  I  can't  know 
that  mad  has  never  meant  "venemous"  to  any  speaker  of 
English  for  the  past  thousand  years.  But  I  can  know  that  never 
in  any  citation  reported  in  the  1973  OED  has  it  had  that 
meaning.  To  me  this  sufficiently  falsifies  the  claim  that 
"venemous"  had  been  the  only,  or  even  prevalent,  meaning 
of  mad  before  the  Mad  Hatter. 

I'm  confident  that  you  would  have  known  that  "mad  as  a  hat- 
ter" meant  "deranged"  at  the  time  the  quotations  I  gave  were 
written.  Mad  meaning  "angry"  began  appearing  in  Ameri- 
can slang  late  in  the  nineteenth  century.  It  may  be  the  pri- 
mary meaning  in  the  United  States  at  the  end  of  the  twenti- 
eth century,  but  my  impression  is  that  in  England  the  ques- 
tion "Are  you  mad?"  still  usually  means  "Are  you  crazy?" 

My  speculations  explaining  "mad  as  an  adder"  and  yours 
justifying  mad's  meaning  "venemous"  are  but  clouds  pinned 
to  clouds  until  we  encounter  credible  evidence  that  either 
term  was  ever  actually  used.  Perhaps  a  reader  will  supply  a 
citation  and  Knight  Letter  will  make  lexicographical  his- 
tory! 

I'm  afraid  you  have  not  persuaded  me  to  furl  my  protest 
banner  in  the  matter  of  the  American  Heritage  Dictionary 
entry.  The  fact  that  Dean  Liddell  and  Rev.  Dodgson  were 
cordial  does  not  justify  a  major  reference  book  in  identify- 
ing Alice  (Dodgson's  real  friend)  as  the  "young  daughter  of 
a  friend".  Friend  connotes  more  to  me  than  a  pleasant  co- 
worker. I  would  prefer  that  Alice  be  called  "a  child  friend". 
If  she  must  be  identified  in  relation  to  her  (unnamed)  fa- 
ther, I  would  call  her  the  young  daughter  of  "the  dean",  or  of 
"a  colleague",  or  even,  if  need  by,  of  "a  neighbor".  Onward  I 
march  in  my  lonely  crusade. 

Thank  you  again  for  an  increasingly  stimulating  newsletter 
and  for  your  gracious  attention  to  my  particular  concerns. 

Gary  Brockman 
Madison,  CT 

You  are  most  welcome  for  the  "Girl  with  Lilacs"  references; 
I  am  very  glad  it  may  inspire  you  to  visit  the  work  in  ques- 
tion, and  would  be  delighted  to  hear  of  your  reaction!  In 
the  matter  of  the  OED,  I  don't  believe  we're  "on  the  same 


page  "  to  use  a  contemporary  metaphor,  which  in  this  case 
must  be  taken  literally.  My  1971  (unabridged)  OED  says 
for  mad,  "5.' Beside  oneself  with  anger;  moved  to  un- 
controllable rage;  furious  "  with  citations  going  back  to 
1300,  including  the  Bible  in  1539  ("They  that  are  mad 
vpon  me,  are  sworne  together  agaynst  me"  Psalms  102.8). 
I  think  we  should  here  let  the  matter  rest  with  the  nota- 
tion that  we  both  believe  Carroll  undoubtedly  meant  "in- 
sane". And  best  of  luck  to  you  in  your  crusade! 

I  have  a  very  small  correction  to  your  mention  of  the  Arthur 
Hughes'  painting  "The  Lady  with  the  Lilacs".  It  is  at  the  Art 
Gallery  of  Ontario,  in  Toronto.  The  Canadian  Society  met 
there  on  October  24  to  view  the  painting  and  learn  more 
about  Dodgson's  and  Alice's  place  in  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
circle. 

When  I  was  doing  the  research  I  came  across  the  name  Eliza- 
beth Turnbull  in  only  one  book  and  now  I  can't  find  it  again. 
Can  you  help  me  out  with  the  book  title? 


I  enjoyed  the  issue,  as  always. 

Dayna  McCausland 
Erin,  Ontario,  Canada 

[Re:  Deborah  Caputo  in  "Queries",  KL  58,  p.  17]:  Mem- 
bers at  the  meeting  at  St.Cloud  during  the  October,  1997 
conference  [the  LCSNA  Fall  gathering  in  Minnesota]  who 
attended  the  session  "Versions  of  Alice  in  Early  Movies" 
(from  the  collection  of  David  Schaefer)  saw  the  Walt  Disney 
Mickey  Mouse  adventure  Through  the  Mirror. 

A  slightly  edited  version  of  ths  film  is  now  available  in  the 
Disney  home  video  The  Spirit  of  Mickey,  now  found  at  many 
supermarkets  (where  I  found  it)  and,  I  suppose,  at  video 
stores.  The  whole  tape  runs  83  minutes,  which  is  a  lot  of 
Mickey  Mouse  to  take  at  one  viewing,  but  Through  the 
Mirror  is  in  the  first  half  of  it,  so  one's  endurance  is  not  put 
to  the  ultimate  test. 

Charles  Stats 
Oak  Park,  Illinois 

Thank  you,  Charles.  The  tape  is  also  available  for  $23 
through  the  Whole  Toon  Catalog,  Facets  Multi-Media, 
1517  W.Fullerton  Ave.,  Chicago  IL  60614;  1.800.331. 
6197.  The  tape  contains  such  classics  as  Steamboat  Mickey 
and  The  Band  Concert.  But  by  all  means,  ask  for  the  cata- 
log. The  Bunin,  Svankmajer,  and  other  Alices  are  to  be 
found  there,  as  well  as  the  "Archive  Edition"  laserdisk  of 
Disney 's  AW,  which  contains  seven  hours  of  additional 
previously  unreleased  material. 

Thought  you  both  might  be  interested  to  learn  that  White 
Stone:  the  Alice  poems  by  Stephanie  Bolster  just  won  the 
Governor  General's  Award  for  poetry  (the  top  Canadian  Lit- 
erary award).  It  received  glowing  praise. 

Dayna  McCausland 


Deservedly  so.  Two  poems  from  this  work  have  graced 
our  pages  (KL  54,  p. 5  and  KL  57,  p.  18  which  also  has 
ordering  information  on  p.  2 3). 

I  was  listening  to  the  radio  yesterday,  and  briefly  caught 
something  on  the  news  about  there  only  being  12  books 
left  of  the  original  printing  of  Alice  in  Wonderland.  Or 
something  to  that  effect... I  was  wondering  if  mine  might 
be  worth  anything?  It's  a  medium  blue  book  with  pale  green 
letters.  It  wouldn't  be  for  sale,  it  was  given  to  me  by  my 
father,  who  received  it  from  his  father.  I'm  not  sure  when 
the  first  printing  was,  but  my  book  doesn't  have  any  dates  at 
all  in  it.  It  was  published  by  Grosset  and  Dunlap. 

Thanks, 

[name  withheld  out  of  mercy] 

Ah,  the  unbearable  lightness  of  being.... 

A  tidbit  has  fallen  into  my  hands  which  is  too  delectable  not 
to  send  to  you! 

A  friend  is  an  editor  at  Penguin/Putnam,  and  knowing  of  my 
love  of  all  things  Carroll,  she  sent  me  a  copy  of  the  attached 
letter,  which  she  came  across  at  the  office.  She  hastened  to 
assure  me  that  this  is  no  joke,  this  is  an  actual  letter  that 
someone  signed  and  mailed  out. 

As  you  will  see,  it's  a  corker.  I  asked  my  friend  if  I  could 
use  the  letter  as  long  as  I  changed  the  names,  etc.  She  said  I 
didn't  have  to  alter  a  thing,  and  I  could  show  it  to  whomever 
I  pleased.  She  was  so  appalled  that  this  happened,  I  think  she 
feels  it  poetic  justice  if  more  people  are  party  to  the  trav- 
esty. 

Hope  you  enjoy!  And  keep  the  KL  issues  coming;  every  one 
is  a  winner.  It's  about  the  only  publication  I  truly  read  cover- 
to-cover. 

Best  Regards 

Andrew  Sellon 
Brooklyn,  New  York 

Penguin   Putnam  Books    for   Young   Readers 
Lewis    Carroll  8/20/98 

Re:    Alice    in   Wonderland  Carroll/Collins 
Ladybird    ISBN    0721456766 

Dear   Lewis    Carroll: 

Due   to  a  decrease   in   sales   and   lack   of 
demand   in   recent   months,    we    find   it   neces- 
sary  to    reduce   and   sell   of    [sic]    our    inven- 
tory  of   your   book,    as   provided   in   your 
contract.    These   copies   will   be    sold    9/25/ 
98. 

However,    at    this    time,    we   am  making   copies 
available   to   you   at    a   special   price. 
If   you   wish   to   order   copies,    for   pricing 
information   contact    Severia   Drake,    Penguin 
Putnam   Inc .    [etc.] 

Please    let   us    know   no    later   than    9/18/98    if 
you   wish   to   purchase    copies.    If   we   have   had 


no    reply  by   that    time   we   will    assume   that 
you   do  not   wish   to   purchace   copies.    This 
notice   applies    only   to   the   edition    listed, 
and  may   result    in   this    edition   going   out   of 
print . 

Please   note    that   orders   will   not   be   pro- 
cessed unless    any   outstanding  balance    for 
books   previously  purchased  has   been   paid   in 
full.    Such  payment   may   accompany  payment 
for   this   order,    [etc.] 

Thank   you   for    your   prompt    attention. 

Very   truly   yours, 

Vickie  Woods 

Vice    President    and   Contracts    Director 

Dear  Vickie:  please,  please,  pretty  please  may  I  have  the 
address  to  which  this  was  sent?  I  have  a  few  questions 
for  the  author. 

Queries 

In  recognition  of  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  our  Soci- 
ety, August  Imholtz  is  preparing  a  commemorative  pamphlet, 
to  be  presented  at  the  November  '99  gathering  (a  copy  will 
go  out  to  all  current  members  not  in  attendance).  Anyone 
having  memorabilia  (photographs,  reminisences,  and  so  on) 
they   would   like   to   share   should   contact  him   at 
imholtz99@atlantech.net  or 
August  Imholtz 
11935  Belts ville  Drive 
Beltsville  MD  20705 

In  browsing  "amazon.com",  I  ran  across  this  rather  louche 
listing:  Alice  in  Wonderland:  A  Masterpiece  of  Victorian 
Pornography?  by  David  Hunter,  Gold  Star  Press,  1989; 
ISBN:  0915153270.  Has  anyone  read  it? 

I  am  also  searching  for  a  video  copy  (PAL  or  NTSC)  of  Den- 
nis Potter's  ur-Dreamchild  teleplay  Alice  (BBC1,  1965). 
~ed. 

Conferences  and  Calls  for  Papers 

The  L.C. S.Canada  is  putting  together  a  chap-book  of  essays. 
Anyone  interested  in  submitting  an  original  5-10  page  pa- 
per on  any  aspect  relating  to  Lewis  Carroll,  please  send  an 
abstract  or  copy  of  the  paper  by  March  15,  1999  to 
alphbeth@hotmail.com  or  Fernando  J.  Soto,  360  Shaw 
Street,  Toronto,  ON  Canada  M6J  2X3 

Rina  Litvin-Biberman  of  Mofet  College  in  Tel  Aviv,  whose 
Hebrew  translation  of  the  Alice  books  is  due  this  Spring,  is 
also  organizing  the  first  Lewis  Carroll  Conference  to  be 
held  in  Israel  June  8  -  1  Oth.  Morton  Cohen  has  been  invited 
to  be  the  keynote  speaker,  but  has  not  confirmed  as  yet. 
Details  will  be  forthcoming  in  future  KL  issues,  but  anyone 
interested  in  attending  or  presenting  should  contact  her  at 
rinabib@mofet.  macam98.ac.il,  or  send  a  fax  to  Bet-Ariela 
(the  cultural  department),  c/o  Mrs.  Hava  Liber,  +972.3. 
6919024. 


10 


Carrollian 
Notes 


Frankly  Speaking 

From  Washington  D.C.'s  The  Hill  (9/30/98): 

"Ever-intellectual  Rep.Barney  Frank  (D-Mass.)  botched  a 
literary  reference  in  a  press  conference  last  week  — 
although  none  of  the  reporters  caught  it. 

After  a  discussion  of  the  G.O.P.  plan  to  bring  a  formal  im- 
peachment inquiry  to  the  House  before  defining  an  'im- 
peachable offense,'  Frank  said  'The  Red  Queen  would  be 
proud.' 

His  reference  was  to  a  character  from  Lewis  Carroll's  Alice 
in  Wonderland,  but  he  meant  to  refer  to  the  Queen  of 
Hearts  in  Through  the  Looking-Glass,  who  declared  'sen- 
tence first,  verdict  afterwards.' 

When  Frank  saw  that  his  comment  drew  a  blank  among  re- 
porters, he  said  with  a  smile,  'I'm  sorry.  I  promise,  no  more 
literary  allusions.' 

But  when  later  informed  of  his  error,  Frank  quipped  that 
the  Queen  of  Hearts  was  still  technically  red.  He  added 
this:  'It's  very  embarrassing  for  a  gay  man  to  get  his  queens 
wrong.'" 

It's  even  more  embarrassing  for  a  newspaper  reporting 
on  this  error  to  make  exactly  the  same  mistake,  mixing 
up  the  books  in  which  the  Queens  appear! 

Alice  in  Opera  Land 

Palace  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  San  Francisco,  12/27/98 

Donald  Pippin's  "Pocket  Opera"  has  been  a  local  cultural 
treasure  since  1968,  presenting  chamber  versions  of  op- 
eras known  and  unknown,  always  in  English.  He  functions 
as  translator,  librettist,  orchestra  (technically,  pianist),  nar- 
rator, and  artistic  director.  This  production,  the  third  an- 
nual staging  of  a  pasticcio  aimed  at  "children  of  all  ages" 
was  presented  twice  in  Mountain  View,  and  once  here. 

The  conceit  is  that  Alice  wanders  in  to  a  strange  land  -  the 
world  of  Opera.  Four  singers  become  all  the  characters, 
and  with  music  "borrowed"  from  J.  Strauss,  Mozart, 
Donizetti,  Verdi  and  so  on,  explain  the  joyous  wonders  and 
traditions  of  "Opera  Land".  Then  they  stage  an  "entire  op- 
era" (roughly,  Mozart's  The  Abduction  from  the  Seraglio 
in  fifteen  minutes).  Alice  (Jena  Hunt,  aet.  8  or  so)  func- 
tions as  a  "pedal  point",  asking  the  occasional  question  but 
mostly  staying  out  of  the  way  until  the  very  end,  when  she 
regaled  us  with  a  surprisingly  good  aria. 

Truthfully,  there  was  very  little  Carroll  outside  of  Alice's 
dress  and  attitude.  At  one  point  she  was  pushed  into  a  pool 
(of  tears?)  by  the  Mad  Hatter,  but  there  was  little  other  hint 
of  Carroll  in  the  dialog.  My  nieces  {aet.  12,  16)  enjoyed 
themselves. 


It  has  come  to  our  attention  that  about 
42  copies  of  the  previous  Knight  Let- 
ter (#58)  contained  pages  which  were, 
in  fact,  Snark-hunting  maps,  that  is, 
"perfect  and  absolute  blanks".  Before 
the  printer  went  out  of  business  (ahem) 
they  were  good  enough  to  make  fifty 
extra  copies  with  all  pages  intact.  Any- 
one desiring  a  replacement  copy  of 
A2#58  should  contact  QueenBeal  2@ 
aol.com,  or  Bea  Sidaway,  28675  Holly 
Drive,  North  Olmsted  OH  44070. 


About  this  issue's  cover:  "ASCII"  art  renders  pictures  or 
original  artworks  within  the  restrictions  of  characters  which 
exist  only  on  a  typewriter  (or  computer  keyboard).  Allen 
Mullen  is  a  master  of  the  craft,  and  has  created  this  hom- 
age to  Disney's  Alice.  See  his  other  works  at  http:// 
users.inetw.net/~mullen/ascii.htm. 

BIZARRO  Piraro 


(kyisc*  dp  kit  in  IVie  sW  of  fedtf 
A  Ancl  vjou  paid  HoW  much  tor  IViis? 


The  Origin  of  the  Millenium  Bug 

Alice  had  been  looking  over  his  shoulder  with 
some  curiosity.  "What  a  funny  watch!"  she 
remarked.  "It  tells  the  day  of  the  month,  and 
doesn't  tell  what  o'clock  it  is!7' 

"Why  should  it?"  muttered  the  Hatter. 
"Does  your  watch  tell  you  what  year  it  is?" 

"Of  course  not,"  Alice  replied  very  readily: 
"but  that's  because  it  stays  the  same  year  for 
such  a  long  time  together." 


11 


(©Jf    P<®<£$£    8c  tHjPJ^ 


Oh,  my  ears  and  whiskers! 

Antiquarian  book  dealer  and  LCSNA  founding 
member  Justin  G.  Schiller,  as  we  all  have  been  reading,  re- 
cently put  his  personal  collection  of  Carrolliana  up  for  auc- 
tion at  Christie's  (December  9th).  The  headlines  have  been 
generated  about  Carroll's  personal  copy  of  the  1865  AW, 
which  realized  1.54  million  dollars  (discussed  further,  be- 
low), but  there  were  37  other  items  sold  as  well.  Some  went 
much  higher  than  anticipated  (e.g.  items  7  and  8,  below), 
and  some  lower  (the  1865  went,  in  fact,  for  $100,000  un- 
der the  low  estimate!)  LCSNA  members  present  included 
Janet  Jurist  and  Charlie  Lovett.  The  following  abbreviated 
list  indicates  the  prices  realized,  with  buyer's  premium 
added: 

1.  1866  Appleton,  $43,700 

2.  1869  first  French  AW,  $20,700 

3.  Alice  Hargreaves'  copy  of  the  Nabokov  translation, 
$11,500 

4.  a  first  edition,  first  state  TTLG,  inscribed  by 
"C.L.Dodgson,  alias  Lewis  Carroll",  $36,800. 

5.  first  edition  Hunting  of  the  Snark,  CLD's  own  copy, 
subsequently  inscribed  to  P.G.Wodehouse,  $20,700. 

6.  A.L.S.,  CLD  to  Mrs.  E.M.  Ward,  1892,  with  original 
envelope,  also  a  copy  of  Allingham's  The  Fairies  il- 
lustrated by  Gertrude  Thomson,  $4,600 

7.  photo  of  "Alice  as  beggar  maid",  $63,000 

8.  Wonderland  Postage  Stamp  Case,  $8,050 

9.  eight  original  photos  of  the  Macdonald  children, 
$27,600 

10.  a  roll  of  the  charming  Tony  Sarg  wallpaper,  $253 

"The"  item  of  media  interest  was  the  record-set- 
ting copy  of  AW.  (The  previous  record  for  a  19th-century 
literary  work,  or  any  children's  book,  was  the  $1.2  million 
for  a  copy  of  Blake's  Songs  of  Innocence  and  Experience, 
although  that  may  be  stretching  the  definition  of  "children's 
book"  a  bit.)  This  particular  copy  was  purchased  by  Justin  at 
an  auction  in  Paris  in  1980  for  an  unbelievable  $56,000. 
The  book,  one  of  the  remaining  six  of  the  suppressed  edi- 
tion still  in  private  hands,  was  bound  in  red  Morocco  leather 
in  1899,  and  included  lavender-ink  notations  by  Carroll  and 
ten  pencil  sketches  by  Tenniel. 

There  was  a  bit  of  a  mystery  in  its  provenance: 
Schiller  himself,  in  a  1990  monograph,  wrote  "Since  1928, 
these  markings  have  been  misattributed  as  being  in  Lewis 
Carroll's  handwriting."  He  did  not  believe  them  to  be 
Carroll's,  as  lavender  ink  was  not  provided  by  Christ  Church 
until  1 870,  and  none  of  the  corrections  turned  up  in  the 
second  edition. 

However,  just  the  day  before  the  catalog  went  to 
press,  its  author  (and  auctioneer),  Francis  Wahlgren,  went 
to  the  Morgan  Library  to  check  on  a  footnote  to  an  1956 
article  cited  by  Justin  in  the  monograph.  In  it,  he  discov- 
ered that  the  markings  were,  in  fact,  in  preparation  for  the 


Nursery  Alice  (1889)  and  not, 
as  Justin  had  thought,  editing 
notes  for  the  second  edition.  As 
the  notes  did  correspond  to  the 
text  of  the  Nursery  Alice,  the 
markings  truly  could  be  consid- 
ered Carroll's. 

En  plena  tarde  dorada 

Los  Libros  de  Alicia:  Aventuras  de  Alicia  en  el  Pais  de 
las  Maravillas;  A  Travis  del  Espejo  y  lo  que  Alicia 
encontro  alii;  "La  Avispa  con  peluca  ",  La  Caza  del  Snark, 
Cartas,  y  Fotogrqfias,  translated  and  annotated  by  Eduardo 
Stilman,  prologue  by  Jorge  Luis  Borges,  illustrated  by 
Tenniel,  Holiday,  Carroll,  and  Hermenegildo  Sabat; 
Ediciones  de  la  Flor  /  Best  Ediciones,  Argentina  1998,  640 
pp.;  950-515-169-1. 

Readers  of  the  last  issues  of  the  Knight  Letter  (53 
-  58)  have  been  privileged  to  be  following  the  gestation  of 
this  sumptuous  and  definitive  volume.  Eduardo  Stilman,  a 
much-decorated  Argentine  writer,  has  revitalized  his  1968 
translations  of  the  Alice  books,  and  added  new  ones  of  the 
Snark,  the  "Wasp  in  a  Wig",  about  200  letters,  extensive 
annotations,  and  several  dozen  photographs.  The  prologue, 
by  his  friend  Jorge  Luis  Borges,  was  translated  into  English 
and  appeared  as  such  for  the  first  time  in  these  pages  (KL 
55).  It  is  a  most  handsome  volume  which  has  garnered  such 
reviews  as  "a  jeweP'and  "a  very  imaginative  and  exact  trans- 
lation, displaying  a  great  quantity  of  knowledge  that  is  not 
mere  erudition" (Pagina  12),  "the  most  beautiful  and  intri- 
cate book  of  the  year"  (La  Naciori),  and  great  praise  from 
The  Buenos  Aires  Herald,  an  English- language  newspaper. 
Congratulations  to  Sr.  Stilman  on  his  resounding  success, 
and  Spanish  readers  for  the  next  millenium  will  be  enchanted 
with  his  translations  and  scholasticism.  Copies  ($45  +$4  s/ 
h)  can  be  acquired  from  The  Bilingual  Publications  Co.,  270 
Lafayette  St.,  New  York,  NY  10012;  1.212.431.3500; 
-3567  fax;  or  lindagoodman@juno.com. 

Invasion  of  the  e-Books 

The  next  generation  of  information  media  has  ar- 
rived. Advocates  are  calling  it  the  greatest  innovation  since 
moveable  type;  anatagonists  are  worried  about  the  death  of 
the  printed  book.  The  truth  is,  no  doubt,  somewhere  in  be- 
tween. 

An  e-book  is  a  small  device  designed  only  to  dis- 
play text  and  images,  one  page  at  a  time.  The  entire  book  is 
downloaded  from  the  World  Wide  Web  or  a  phone  line. 
Currently,  there  are  only  two  contenders;  a  third 
("Everybook")  is  due  to  begin  service  this  month.  (The  next 
generation  will  have  multiple  pages,  just  like  a  book,  and 
the  "ink"  changing  with  the  downloaded  text.  This  is  not  yet 
available,  but  has  been  announced.) 


12 


The  advantages  are  numerous:  huge  amounts  of  text 
(up  to  300  books)  can  be  stored  in  a  device  no  larger  than  a 
paperback;  you  can  make  the  typeface  bigger  or  decide  on  a 
different  font;  text  can  be  scanned  for  occurrences  of  words 
and  phrases,  you  can  highlight  text,  "bookmark"  pages,  make 
notes,  and  link  information.  It  is  handy  for  bedtime  reading, 
as  well,  as  it  has  its  own  light  source. 

Of  course,  the  sensuality,  private  memories,  in- 
scriptions and  associations  of  owning  a  "real"  book  are  lost. 
What  may  be  gained  is  the  ease  of  publication  -  out  of  print 
titles,  new  authors,  student  textbooks,  unwieldy  tomes,  pri- 
vate printings,  and  so  on  which  are  not  economically 
feasable  may  find  a  new  life. 

The  two  current  contenders  are:  NuvoMedia's 
Rocket  eBook  (5"x7";  4,000  pages  storage;  requires  that 
you  have  a  PC,  modem,  and  Web  access;  $500),  and 
SoftBook  (872"xll";  100,000  pages  storage;  a  built-in  mo- 
dem downloads  through  an  ordinary  phone  line;  $300  +  $10/ 
month).  We  applaud  the  Rocket  eBook  for  one  fine  thing:  it 
comes  pre-loaded  with  three  indispensible  texts:  a  Users' 
Guide,  the  Random  House  Dictionary,  and  Alice 's  Adven- 
tures in  Wonderland  with  the  Tenniel  illustrations.  It  also 
has  a  leather  carrying  case  ($120)  for  that  bibliophilic  "look 
and  feel".  RocketBook:  www.levenger.com;  1.800.544. 
0880;  SoftBook:  www.softbook.com;  1.8000.222.5861. 

Crispin  Critters 

Cindy  Watters  recommends  to  us  the  works  of 
Edmund  Crispin  and  his  fictional  detective,  Oxford  Profes- 
sor of  English  Language  and  Literature  Gervase  Fen.  His 
books  range  from  The  Moving  Toyshop  (1949)  to  Fen 
Country  (1979).  "You  might  add  that  the  Crispin  canon  is 
sizeable,  but  The  Moving  Toyshop  is  a  "not  to  be  missed" 
for  nonsense  literature  fans.  Carroll  was  obviously  a  tre- 
mendous influence  upon  the  author.  In  Crispins 's  works  you 
will  find  references  to  the  White  Rabbit,  the  Pig-Baby,  the 
Dormouse,  and  many  more.  Very,  very  funny,  and  no  matter 
how  large  your  vocabulary,  access  to  a  good  dictionary  is 
advised." 

A  Clairvoyant  Biographer 

Lewis  Carroll:  A  Portrait  with  Background 'by  Donald  Tho- 
mas. London:  John  Murray,  1996.  404pp.  Index,  bibliogra- 
phy, notes.  0719553237 
Review  by  Ellie  Luchinsky 

There  are  various  types  of  biography.  Like  Morton 
Cohen's  Lewis  Carroll:  A  Biography,  Donald  Thomas  has 
chosen  to  write  a  thematic  one.  Whether  his  is  as  success- 
ful as  Professor  Cohen's  is  questionable. 

According  to  the  dust  jacket,  Donald  Thomas  holds 
a  Personal  Chair  at  the  University  of  Wales.  He  has  written 
a  number  of  other  books  including  the  novel  Belladonna: 
A  Lewis  Carroll  Nightmare  and  The  Marquis  de  Sade.  In- 
deed, the  Marquis  de  Sade  gets  more  than  a  dozen  refer- 
ences in  this  biography  of  Charles  L.  Dodgson,  along  with 
other  such  interesting  figures  as  Charles  Augustus  Howell, 
noted  blackmailer.  Belladonna  was  also  published  under 
the  title  Mad  Hatter  Summer. 


In  his  preface,  Thomas  states  the  theme,  or  assump- 
tion, that  ties  his  book  together  ". .  .that  what  is  forgiven  ought 
not  necessarily... be  forgotten  or  overlooked."  With  that 
theme  in  mind,  he  proceeds  to  explore  the  Reverend 
Dodgson's  mental,  spiritual,  sexual,  and  emotional  inner  life 
in  such  chapters  as  "Mrs.  Grundy  and  the  Baron"  (Kraft- 
Ebbing)  and  "Man  About  Town". 

He  spends  much  of  his  time  comparing  the  inner 
Dodgson  and  the  external  events  of  his  time,  such  as  the 
late  nineteenth  century's  developments  in  psychology,  crime, 
prostitution,  and  child  abuse.  Dodgson  could  hardly  be  un- 
aware of  these  issues.  Indeed,  Thomas  points  out,  his  li- 
brary shows  that  he  was  well-read  in  many  of  them.  How 
did  he  manage  to  maintain  his  strict  moral  outlook  and  his 
restrained  and  retiring  style  of  living? 

Thomas  theorizes  that  his  morality  was  somewhat 
relativistic.  Take  the  instance,  which  Thomas  discusses  sev- 
eral times,  of  Dodgson's  strong  objections  to  news  articles 
about  child  prostitution.  This  was  not  because  he  believed 
that  they  were  untrue  or  unhelpful,  but  because  he  feared 
they  would  corrupt  the  morals  of  young  gentlemen  and  la- 
dies who  might  read  them.  At  the  same  time  that  child  sexual 
abuse  and  prostitution  were  becoming  political  issues, 
Dodgson  saw  nothing  wrong  in  spending  an  afternoon  with 
an  unclothed  child-friend. 

While  Thomas  makes  several  of  these  points  well, 
the  redundancy  of  his  writing  lessens  their  impact.  Also 
several  misreadings  of  the  Alice  texts  and  others  jarred  this 
reader  and  lessened  his  credibility.  For  example  in  Sylvie 
and  Bruno,  he  treats  the  little  poem  recited  by  the  dairy- 
maid, concerning  the  crust  thrown  away,  as  being  taken  se- 
riously by  Carroll.  Bruno's  interpretation  of  this  moralistic 
ditty  negates  that  reading.  Also,  he  refers  to  the  mouse's 
tail  as  being  "knotted".  This  was  a  pun,  as  one  can  see  by 
looking  at  the  "Mouse's  Tale",  where  there  are  no  knots.  He 
also  makes  the  same  error  as  this  reviewer  did  at  the  begin- 
ning of  her  Carrollian  career,  that  the  letter  register  lists 
98,000  items  of  his  own  out-going  correspondence.  Actu- 
ally, the  register  lists  all  of  his  correspondence,  received 
as  well  as  sent. 

This  reviewer  also  finds  some  of  Thomas's  read- 
ings of  Dodgson's  thoughts  a  little  disturbing.  Some  of  them 
amount  almost  to  clairvoyance.  In  the  "Mrs.  Grundy  and  the 
Baron"  chapter,  he  writes,  in  reference  to  Dodgson's  walks 
in  the  theater  district  of  London,  "It  cannot  have  helped 
matters  that  one  of  the  London  prostitute's  more  frequent 
salutations  at  this  time  was,  'Hello,  Charlie!'  To  hear  the 
'Charlie'  of  his  mother's  childhood  endearments  tossed  at 
him  in  this  manner  must  have  been  profoundly  repellent." 
There  is  no  note  to  verify  this. 

Also,  his  references  on  page  296  to  Dodgson  as  a 
"jolly  dog"  and  on  page  297  as  a  "prig"  jar  the  reader. 

Donald  Thomas  has  obviously  done  some  careful 
research  in  the  writing  of  Lewis  Carroll:  A  Portrait  with 
Background.  Unfortunately,  with  his  frequent  references 
to  the  Marquis  de  Sade  without  an  obvious  point,  and  his 
sometimes  convoluted  language,  reading  the  book  can  be  a 


13 


3ln  Jfflemoriam 

Murray  Ratcliffe,  LCSNA  member  and  co-founder  of 
the  Alice  in  Wonderland  Centre,  Llandudno,  North 
Wales,  died  in  April,  1998.  Murray  and  his  wife  Muriel 
were  always  delighted  to  receive  visits  from  Lewis 
Carroll  Society  members  and,  during  the  1 1  years  since 
the  "Rabbit  Hole"  was  founded,  have  received  visitors 
from  all  over  the  world.  From  that  time  it  has  been  a 
tourist  attraction  which  "Alice"  aficionados  have  vis- 
ited to  enter  the  magical  world  "Down  a  Rabbit  Hole". 
Murray  became  a  very  familiar  figure  in  the  local  events 
of  Llandudno,  dressed  as  the  Mad  Hatter.  Indeed  Murray 
and  Muriel's  activities  in  the  "Wonderland"  world  took 
them  to  most  interesting  places:  one  visit  was  to  Ice- 
land as  ambassadors  for  the  British  Tourist  Authority. 
Alice  Liddell  spent  several  years  of  her  childhood  in 
the  family  residence  in  Llandudno,  and  it  is  this  con- 
nection which  the  Centre  celebrates.  Muriel  continues 
to  run  the  Alice  in  Wonderland  Centre.  It  was  Murray's 
wish  that  it  continue  -  "and  so  it  will". 

Myra  Cohn  Livingston,  children's  poet,  author,  and 
instructor,  passed  away  August  23rd.  Hilda  Bohem 
writes,  "Myra  was  a  lovely  person  to  have  for  a  friend. 
She  was  warm,  she  was  generous,  and  she  was  kind.  She 
had  wonderfully  intelligent  opinions,  yet  never  hurt  you 
with  them.  The  students  in  her  creative  writing  classes 
adored  her.  She  not  only  inspired  them,  edited  them, 
and  advised  them,  she  helped  them  to  find  publishers 
and  she  delighted  in  their  successes.  She  was  a  marvel- 
ous hostess,  and  whenever  anyone  from  the  children's 
book  world  was  in  town,  you  could  be  almost  certain 
that  they  would  be  staying  at  Myra's  and  that  she  would 
have  a  party  for  them.  With  all  the  graciousness  and 
charm  in  the  world,  making  it  look  as  if  it  were  as  easy 
as  breathing,  she  would  put  together  an  event,  large  or 
small,  where  compatible  people  could  meet  and  talk, 
and  where  lesser  lights  might  encounter  important  folk 
and  important  folk  might  bask  in  a  certain  amount  of 
awe  and  adulation,  all  of  which  she  considered  a  neces- 
sary part  of  social  civility.  I  was  lucky  enough  to  attend 
the  celebration  her  friends  had  for  the  publication  of 
her  83rd  book.  Myra  knew  when  modesty  would  be  in- 
appropriate. She  was  radiant  with  pride  and  pleasure  at 
having  come  so  far  and  accomplished  so  much,  and  best 
of  all,  having  gathered  so  many  friends  along  the  way.  I 
still  reach  for  the  phone  to  ask  her  a  question,  or  just  to 
say  hello.  It's  hard  to  believe  she's  gone,  her  presence 
is  still  so  strong." 

Morton  Cohen  adds  "She  was  a  dear  friend  of  mine,  a 
gentle,  sensitive,  stylish  person  who  wrote  low-key, 
warm  and  winning  poetry.  She  also  wrote  easy,  unclut- 
tered prose  informed  by  a  quiet  wit.  I  was  shocked  by 
her  death,  and  shall  continue  to  miss  her  genial 
presence." 


little  heavy-going.  There  are  references  in  it  that  might 
puzzle  the  neophyte  Carrollian  or  non-Carrollian,  such  as  a 
single,  unexplained  reference  to  marking  a  day  with  a  white 
stone. 

As  an  interesting  read,  the  book  certainly  succeeds. 
As  an  addition  to  Carrollian,  or  as  Thomas  would  have  it, 
Carrollingian,  scholarship,  it  is  less  successful. 

The  First  Web 

"One  worldwide  web,  spreading  news,  messages 
and  information  faster  and  more  freely  than  ever  before. 
Fortunes  made  in  trading  start-up  company  stocks,  and  lost 
in  the  next  market  crash.  A  global  community,  linked  by 
rapidly  evolving  electronic  wizardry  managed  by  highly  paid 
electronic  magicians.  Incompatible  systems,  on-line  ro- 
mances, and  vociferous  debates  about  government  control 
and  the  impact  of  new  technology."  The  World  Wide  Web? 
Hardly  —  the  advent  of  the  telegraph  in  the  mid-nineteenth 
century  did  more  to  change  society  than  today's  incarna- 
tion, argues  Tom  Standage  in  The  Victorian  Internet:  The 
Remarkable  Story  of  the  Telegraph  and  the  Nineteenth 
Century's  On-Line  Pioneers  (Walker,  $22).  0802713424 

Tenniel,  Newly  Imagined 

Cuban-born  photographer  Abelardo  Morell  had  the 
brilliant  inspiration  of  combining  cut-outs  of  Tenniel  draw- 
ings inside  photographs  depicting  the  world  of  Wonderland, 
wherein  the  book  itself  becomes  a  character  (for  instance, 
the  rabbit  hole  goes  right  though  a  dictionary).  He  writes, 
"for  me,  this  kept  the  spirit  of  the  original  visual  narrative 
grounded  in  something  familiar  and  at  the  same  time  it  al- 
lowed me  to  invent  a  new  landscape  where  the  story  takes 
place."  It's  a  handsomely  printed  edition  of  AW,  which  in- 
cludes the  full  text,  Morell's  evocative  imagery,  and  an  in- 
sightful essay  on  Dodgson,  photography  and  illustration  by 
Leonard  S.  Marcus.  Dutton  Children's  Books  /  Penguin 
Putnam  Books,  www.penguinputnam.com/yreaders.  $20. 
0525460942.  Original  gelatin  silver  prints  from  the  work 
($1500  -  1800)  are  available  from  Bonn  Benrubi  Gallery, 
52  E.  76th  St.,  New  York  NY  10021;  1.212.517.3766  / 
1.212.288.7815  fax. 

The  Rhythm  of  our  Rowing 

Meg  Davis,  a  sweet-voiced  singer  and  award-win- 
ning composer,  has  digitally  re-mastered  and  released  on 
CD  her  extraordinarily  enjoyable  1987  work  The  Music  of 
Wonderland.  Originally  a  commission  from  Muriel  and  the 
late  Murray  Radcliffe  of  The  Rabbit  Hole  in  Wales,  it  has 
up  to  now  been  very  hard  to  find.  The  album  consists  of 
original  folk-like  settings  of  texts  by  Carroll  and  her  own 
poems  on  Carroll's  life  and  characters,  from  the  snappy  "All 
my  Own  Invention"  to  the  exquisitely  poignant  "You  Will 
Remember  Me".  I  really  enjoyed  listening,  and  have  and 
will  again,  and  recommend  it  to  all  Carrollians  and  their 
children  (or  parents).  It's  that  good. 

Meg  has  recently  retired  from  performing  due  to 
MS,  but  is  still  writing  and  composing  music,  and  is  at  work 
on  her  first  book. 


14 


You  can  order  from  her  directly  —  autographed  if 
requested  —  at  a  members'  price  of  $18.50,  post-paid.  Meg 
Davis  Productions,  1069  Newcastle  Drive,  Cincinnati,  OH 
45231.  its-a-hoot@usa.net;  http://members.tripod.com/ 
megdavis/index.html.  1.513.522.5989. 

Picture  Perfect 

Reflections  in  a  Looking  Glass:  A  Centennial  Celebra- 
tion of  Lewis  Carroll,  Photographer;  essays  and  extended 
captions  by  Morton  Cohen;  914"  x  Hl/2",  140  photographs 
and  illustrations,  144  pages;  Aperture,  New  York  1998; 
Hardcover  $50;  0-89381-796-1. 

The  spectacular  exhibit  from  the  Helmut 
Gernsheim  collection  at  the  Harry  Ransom  Humanities 
Research  Center  at  the  University  of  Texas  at  Austin  (and 
which  will  be  touring  to  New  York  City  {Feb.  12  -  Mar.23, 
1999};  Fresno,  California  {Sep.  13  -  Nov.  28};  and  Glen 
Falls,  New  York  {Jan.15-Mar.26,  2000})  has  bequeathed 
us  a  supreme  treasure:  an  exquisitely  reproduced  catalog 
of  Dodgson's  photographs,  usually  sepia-toned,  many  never 
before  seen,  and  finely  illuminated  by  a  learned  essay  and 
notes  by  Morton  Cohen;  with  afterwords  by  Roy  Flukinger, 
Curator  of  Photography  at  HRHRC  disussing  the  art  and 
craft  of  Dodgson's  work  and  his  preservation  of  it  in  the 
form  of  his  beloved  albums;  and  Mark  Haworth-Booth,  Cu- 
rator of  Photography  at  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum, 
putting  Dodgson's  work  in  context  of  photographic  art  and 
culture,  from  Victorian  times  to  our  own.  The  book  is  even 
more  comprehensive  than  the  show,  as  it  has  been  able  to 
publish  many  items  from  other  collections.  This  is  the  book 
to  own  on  an  important  aspect  of  Dodgson's  life,  art,  and 
legacy.  And  so  reasonably  priced! 


"Far-flung"  continued  from  backpage 

MegaShirts  of  the  U.K.  has  a  number  of  products  screen- 
printed  with  Tenniel  scenes  from  the  Alice  books.  Tankards 
cost  £10.50  each,  t-shirts  £7.50,  sweatshirts  £12.50  and 
coffee  mugs  £3.50.  http://www.megashirts.  co.uk; 
megashirts@stones.com;  +44.494.533660. 

Friends  of  Children  and  Literature  (FOCAL)  of  the  Los 
Angeles  Public  Library  are  selling  cards  and  envelopes  (a 
$5  donation  will  get  you  a  box  of  ten)  as  part  of  their 
fundraising  efforts.  The  pictures  are  based  on  renderings  of 
bas  reliefs  by  Lee  Lawrie  in  the  Children's  Court  of  their 
Central  Branch.  Two  are  of  Alician  interest.  Order  from 
Renny  Day,  15221  Via  de  las  Olas,  Pacific  Palisades,  CA 
90272.  The  illustrations  are  seen  in  this  issue,  p.6. 

For  those  of  you  who  have  nuts  to  crack,  but  are  shy  of  the 
$230  Steinbach  is  asking  for  theirs,  four  hand-painted  poly 
resin  and  hand-carved  wood,  fabric-accented  nutcrackers  of 
Alice  and  three  other  characters  are  available  from  the 
Lillian  Vernon  catalog,  1.800.285.5555  for  $30  apiece. 
They're  quite  fun. 

The  "Magical  Worlds"  stamps  from  the  U.K.  (see  KL  57, 
p.22)  honoring  TTLG,  and  works  by  Nesbit,  C.S.Lewis, 
Tolkien,  and  Mary  Norton,  are  particularly  delightful.  Peter 
Malone's  renderings  of  scenes  in  a  horizontal  format  for 
63p  stamps  are  exquisite.  Also  see  "Articles",  above. 

The  Lewis  Carroll  Centenary  Chess  Set,  based  on  the  sculp- 
ture of  John  Somerville,  $207  from  the  "a  la  carte  Collec- 
tions electronic  store"  at  http://collections. stores. 
yahoo.com/collections/lewcarcenche.html;  similarly,  a 
"crushed  marble  combined  with  resin"  hand-painted  AW 
chess  set  ($470)  from  Gift  Swami.  http://www. 
widerview.com/mascs034.html;  1 .888. 253. 6466. Com- 
poser/soprano Susan  Botti's  CD  Listen,  It's  Snowing  in- 
cludes "Jabber-wocky".  Composers  Recordings,  Inc.,  73 
Spring  Street,  Suite  506,  New  York  NY  10012. 

The  Walrus  and  the  Carpenter,  a  miniature  book  consist- 
ing of  "a  3-tiered  illuminated  scene  reveal(ing)  the  Walrus 
and  the  Carpenter  seaside,  commencing  their  Oyster  feast" 
designed,  engineered,  illustrated  and  handbound  in  brown 
velvet  by  Maryline  Poole  Adams.  Edition  of  65.  3"  x  2!/2", 
12  pp.  $225  from  The  Poole  Press,  1 170  Keeler  Ave.,  Ber- 
keley CA  94708;  1.5 10.843. 0399,  or  883.9257  fax. 

Glass  ornaments  of  Humpty  Dumpty,  the  White  Rabbit,  and 
the  brothers  Tweedle,  around  $20  apiece,  from  the  Taron 
Collection:  http://www.taroncollection.com/Taron_ 
Collection_Glass_Ornaments.htm;  1.800.228.8615. 

A  special  edition  figurine  of  Alice  sculpted  by  Brian  Franks 
at  the  invitation  of  Muriel  Ratcliffe  of  The  Rabbit  Hole,  the 
Alice  in  Wonderland  Centre  in  Llandudno,  Wales.  It  is  6" 
tall,  cast  in  stone  resin,  and  hand-painted.  There  will  be  more 
in  this  series.  Alice  is  on  sale  for  $68  incl.  s&h.  The  Rabbit 
Hole,  3-4  Trinity  Square,  Llandudno,  Conwy,  N.  Wales,  UK. 
+44.492.860082,  alice@wonderland.co.uk. 


15 


Serendipity 


I  long  sometimes  for  that  early,  ardent  per- 
ception when  all  narrative  provided  one  engulfing 
reality.  In  that  Eden  I  saw  little  or  no  distinction  be- 
tween movies  and  stories  in  books.  Neither  was  there 
any  essential  difference  of  kind  distinguishing 
dreams  from  daydreams,  or  daydreams  from  con- 
scious fantasies,  or  separating  all  those  private  nar- 
ratives, from  the  collectively  composed  dramas  of 
kids  playing  Robbers  or  War  or  Cowboys:  "Say,  we 
got  our  guns  back,  and  you  don't  see  us  coming."  OK. 
And  then  say,  "I  see  you  from  the  roof."  And  so  forth. 

This  doesn't  mean  that  I  was  stupid  or  inno- 
cent. I  recognized  the  different  levels  of  expertise, 
vividness,  plausibility  among  such  different  kinds  of 
made-up  story.  But  underneath  such  qualities  was  a 
single  unquestionable  essence:  a  populated,  imita- 
tive reality,  as  seamless  and  coherent  as  the  world 
itself.  Available  when  the  real  world  grew  tedious  or 
oppressive,  or  merely  at  whim,  there  was  a  reality  of 
imagination.  Genre  and  form  did  not  come  into  it. 
Though  one  collaborated  in  those  clumsy,  derivative 
dramas  of  shootouts  and  pursuits,  slapping  a  thigh 
while  running  to  simulate  horseback  riding,  the  idea 
had  not  emerged  that  this  was  a  particular  kind  of 
making,  with  an  essential  character  different  from 
that  of  Errol  Flynn  in  "Robin  Hood,"  which  was,  in 
turn,  different  in  nature  from  a  book  about  Robin 
Hood. 

I  know  a  woman  who  as  a  child  used  to  be 
afraid  to  begin  a  new  book.  In  the  inert  little  object, 
in  the  squared-off  ranks  of  black  sentences,  lay  ter- 
rible power  she  had  not  elected:  within  a  few  pages 
she  would  become  subject  to  that  power.  She  might 
start  to  care  about  the  fate  of  a  character  the  author 
could  thwart,  humiliate,  even  kill,  the  character  a 
hostage  not  even  to  fortune  but  to  the  authorial  need 
to  create  just  that  caring  my  friend  dreaded  while  also 
craving  it. 

Reading  at  this  stage  is  as  ecstatic  and 
unfathomably  vivid  as  the  movie  screen  and  as  in- 
ward as  dreams.  The  film  technologies  of  projection, 
synthesized  sound  and  so  forth  —  if  I  was  aware  of 
them  at  all  —  were  theoretical,  like  an  older  boy's 
explanation  of  special  effects,  the  collapsible  arrow 
that  exploded  backward  out  of  an  actor's  shirt  simul- 
taneously with  a  bursting  sack  of  catsup.  Despite  the 
explanation,  I  flinched  at  the  movie.  And  I  think  I  was 
even  more  innocent,  once,  of  the  technology  of  nar- 
rative in  words.  The  creation  of  the  stories  I  experi- 
enced had  a  density  I  did  not  see  through. 


My  favorite  reading  for  many  years  was  the 
Alice  books.  The  sentences  had  the  same  somber, 
drugged  conviction  as  Sir  John  TenniePs  illustrations, 
an  inexplicable,  shadowy  dignity  that  reminded  me 
of  the  portraits  and  symbols  engraved  on  paper 
money.  The  books  were  not  made  of  words  and  sen- 
tences but  of  that  smoky  assurance,  the  insistent  so- 
lidity of  folded,  textured,  Victorian  interiors  elabo- 
rately barricaded  against  the  doubt  and  ennui  of  a 
dreadfully  God-forsaken  vision.  The  drama  of  resist- 
ing some  corrosive,  enervating  loss,  some  menacing 
boredom,  made  itself  clear  in  the  matter-of-fact  re- 
ality of  the  story.  Behind  the  drawings  I  felt  not  merely 
a  tissue  of  words  and  sentences  but  an  unquestioned, 
definite  reality. 

I  read  the  books  over  and  over.  Inevitably,  at 
some  point,  I  began  trying  to  see  how  it  was  done,  to 
unravel  the  making  —  to  read  the  words  as  words,  to 
peek  behind  the  reality.  The  loss  entailed  by  such 
knowledge  is  immense.  Is  the  romance  of  "being  a 
writer"  —  a  romance  perhaps  even  created  to  com- 
pensate for  this  catastrophic  loss  —  worth  the  price? 
The  process  can  be  epitomized  by  the  episode  that 
goes  with  one  of  my  favorite  illustrations.  Alice  has 
entered  a  dark  wood  —  much  darker  than  the  last 
wood": 

[SJhe  reached  the  wood:  it  looked  very  cool 
and  shady.  "Well,  at  any  rate  it's  a  great 
comfort, "she  said  as  she  stepped  under  the 
trees,  "after  being  so  hot,  to  get  into  the  — 
into  the  —  into  what?"  she  went  on,  rather 
surprised  at  not  being  able  to  think  of  the 
word.  "I  mean  to  get  under  the  —  under  the 

—  under  this,  you  know?" putting  her  hand 
on  the  trunk  of  the  tree.  'What  does  it  call 
itself,  I  wonder?  I  do  believe  it's  got  no  name 

—  why  to  be  sure  it  hasn't!" 

This  is  the  wood  where  things  have  no 
names,  which  Alice  has  been  warned  about.  As  she 
tries  to  remember  her  own  name  ("I  know  it  begins 
with  L!"),  a  Fawn  comes  wandering  by.  In  its  soft, 
sweet  voice,  the  Fawn  asks  Alice,  "What  do  you  call 
yourself?"  Alice  returns  the  question,  the  creature 
replies,  "I'll  tell  you,  if  you'll  come  a  little  further 
on... I  can't  remember  here"  . 

The  Tenniel  picture  that  I  still  find  affecting 
illustrates  the  first  part  of  the  next  sentence: 


16 


So  they  walked  on  together  through  the 
wood,  Alice  with  her  arms  clasped  lovingly 
round  the  soft  neck  of  the  Fawn,  till  they 
came  out  into  another  open  field,  and  here 
the  Fawn  gave  a  sudden  bound  into  the  air, 
and  shook  itself  free  from  Alice's  arm.  "I'm 
a  Fawn!"  it  cried  out  in  a  voice  of  delight. 
"And  dear  me!  you're  a  human  child!"  A 
sudden  look  of  alarm  came  into  its  beauti- 
ful brown  eyes,  and  in  another  moment  it 
had  darted  away  at  full  speed. 

In  the  illustration,  the  little  girl  and  the  ani- 
mal walk  together  with  a  slightly  awkward  intimacy, 
Alice's  right  arm  circled  over  the  Fawn's  neck  and 
back  so  that  the  fingers  of  her  two  hands  meet  in  front 
of  her  waist,  barely  close  enough  to  mesh  a  little,  a 
space  between  the  thumbs.  They  both  look  forward, 
and  the  affecting  clumsiness  of  the  pose  suggests  that 
they  are  tripping  one  another.  The  great-eyed  Fawn's 
legs  are  breathtakingly  thin.  Alice's  expression  is 
calm,  a  little  melancholy  or  spaced-out. 

What  an  allegory  of  the  fall  into  language. 
To  imagine  a  child  crossing  over  from  the  jubilant, 
passive  experience  of  such  a  passage  in  its  physical 
reality,  over  into  the  phrase-by-phrase,  conscious 
analysis  of  how  it  is  done  —  all  that  movement  and 
reversal  and  feeling  and  texture  in  a  handful  of  sen- 
tences is  somewhat  like  imagining  a  parallel  mask- 
ing of  life  itself,  as  if  I  were  to  discover,  on  reflec- 
tion, that  this  room  where  I  am  writing,  the  keyboard, 
the  jar  of  pens,  the  lamp,  the  rain  outside,  were  all 
made  out  of  words. 

That  may  seem  an  exaggeration,  but  Alice's 
loss,  which  reflects  the  loss  of  that  Edenic  illusion, 
has  behind  it  a  whole  Romantic  authority:  the  Fawn 
bounding  away  is  also  Keats's  nightingale,  fading  into 
the  dim  forest.  Artfully  capitalizing  every  reference 
to  the  Fawn  —  its  name  —  Lewis  Carroll  makes  it 
by  that  much  more  a  specific,  unique  reality.  When  it 
fades  far  away,  what  is  left  behind  is  the  surrogate  of 
language  —  the  categories  and  rhetorical  choices  of 
writing: 

Alice  stood  looking  after  it,  almost  ready  to 
cry  with  vexation  at  having  lost  her  dear 
little  fellow-traveler  so  suddenly.  "However, 
I  know  my  name  now" she  said,  "that's  some 
comfort.  Alice — Alice — /  won't  forget  it 
again.  And  now,  which  of  these  finger-posts 
ought  I  to  follow,  I  wonder?" 


The  brisk  cheerfulness  that  takes  up  the  next 
narrative  move  is  another  joke  on  the  scenic  effect  of 
verbal  causes.  The  omnivorous  pressure  of  Story  moves 
on. 

Was  there  the  specific  moment  or  occasion  I 
imagine,  unmasking  the  happy  illusion  of  words  as  read 
dramas,  discovering  that  those  panoramic  densities 
were  a  series  of  propositions?  Possibly  not.  My  pas- 
sionate childhood  escape  into  reading,  perhaps  driven 
by  the  fearful  prospect  of  my  mother's  mental  illness, 
may  have  been  doomed  to  drive  itself  behind  the  seam- 
less, frail  screen  of  the  surface  and,  in  among  the  gears, 
the  grease,  and  wheezing  pumps  of  sentence  and  para- 
graph, the  capital  "F"  of  Fawn. 

I  still  find  the  miracle  of  narrative  prose  al- 
most unattainable.  I  marvel  at  the  ability  of  even  the 
humblest  genre  writer  to  assert  the  existence  of  a  world: 
A  man  came  into  the  room.  I  read  it  and  I  behold  a  man, 
and  a  room;  but  if  I  write  it,  I  feel  a  kind  of  embarrass- 
ment, even  shame:  There  is  no  man,  no  room,  only  my 
own  voice.  In  a  poem,  which  is  my  own  voice,  relying 
on  the  physical  presence  of  consonants  and  vowels 
formed  by  my  body  I  feel  as  if  I  can  talk  about  any- 
thing, including  anything.  But  fiction  asserts  that  a  world 
exists.  In  a  couple  of  published  stories,  in  unpublished 
strivings  and  hopes,  I  try  to  take  up  that  proposition, 
but  unlike  speech,  it  does  not  come  easily  to  me. 

My  mother  was  a  passionate  escape  reader; 
sometimes  even  in  the  midst  of  her  worst  episodes  she 
would  read  thousands  of  words  of  science-fiction  a  day. 
She  and  I  traded  volumes  and  magazines:  from  the 
boxfuls  she  traded  with  another  devotee  she  found 
somehow,  a  soldier  at  Ft.  Monmouth.  Even  at  her  worst, 
even  when  I  was  in  deepest  retreat,  we  maintained  a 
decorum  of  taking  turns  with  a  vol-ume,  a  tacit  cour- 
tesy maybe  resembling  that  of  drug  addicts. 

She  had  a  withering  doubt  of  the  actual  world, 
and  I  suppose  that  magazines  like  If  and  Galaxy  were 
her  Lewis  Carroll  -  and  mine,  too,  and  I  would  say  my 
successor  to  Carroll,  except  that  I  have  never  abandoned 
him.  In  the  grave,  formal  strangeness  and  practicality 
of  his  books,  in  his  actual  poems  and  in  his  ability  to 
suggest  always  an  ineluctable  meaning  in  words  that  is 
behind  or  under  them,  he  conducted  me  toward  poetry. 
Poetry  for  me  is  possibly  a  route  to  the  real  world,  a 
way  of  respecting  the  actual  -  and  all  the  more  vital  a 
route  for  twists,  obliquities,  compressions  and  shad- 
owy implications.  Possibly,  it  is  after  all  the  form  that 
brings  me  closest  to  that  old,  blessed  belief  in  Cre- 
ation. 

~  Robert  Pinsky 

Poet  Laureate  of  the  United  States 
Some  Notes  on  Reading 


17 


From  Our  Far-fthnQ' 

Books  "         " 

In  one  of  Anne  Fadiman's  columns  for 
Civilization  magazine,  now  collected 
into  book  form  as  Ex  Libris:  Confes- 
sions of  a  Common  Reader  (Farrar, 
Straus  &  Giroux)  she  theorized  that 
"the  scarcity  of  first  editions  of  AW  cm 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  so 
many  of  them  were  eaten  by  children." 

A  Child's  Machiavelli,  Fifty  Ways  to 
Rule  Your  City,  or,  A  Primer  on  Power 
by  Claudia  Hart,  Viking  Penguin, 
0670880213,  $15,  is  "a  darkly  comic 
and  enticingly  designed  primer  for  sur- 
vival, distilled  from  the  sixteenth-cen- 
tury Italian  political  philosopher's  no- 
torious treatise,  which  spells  out  intri- 
cacies of  manipulation  and  domination 
in  simple,  straightforward  language 
juxtaposed  with  sweetly  pastel  images 
appropriated  from  children's  classics" 
including  A  W,  of  course. 

Don't  Tell  the  Grown-Ups:  The  Sub- 
versive Power  of  Children 's  Litera- 
ture by  Alison  Lurie,  Little  Brown  & 
Co.;  0316246255,  is  a  revision  of  the 
1990  work,  now  out  in  paperback, 
which  has  a  chapter  devoted  to  the  Alice 
books.  Ms.  Lurie  won  the  Pulitzer  Prize 
for  fiction  in  1985  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

Ventures  into  Childland:  Victorians, 
Fairy  Tales,  and  Femininity  by 
U.C.Knoepflmacher,  University  of 
Chicago  Press,  $35,  argues  that  the 
male  authors  in  his  survey  display  "a 
regressive  hostility  to  growth"  and  ex- 
press "intense  desire  for  an  evanescent 
female  self.  Some  of  his  arguments 
are  demonstrably  false,  the  rest  merely 
absurd.  He  sees  in  our  heroine  every- 
thing from  a  phallus  to  the  Christ. 

The  Art  ofZelda  Fitzgerald,  a  catalog 
of  the  exhibition  of  her  works,  includ- 
ing a  half-dozen  Alice  illustrations, 
from  the  Maier  Museum  of  Art, 
Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College, 
One  Quinlan  Street,  Lynchburg  VA 
24503;  1.804.947.8136.  (cf  article  in 
KL  55,  p.13.) 

George  Walker's  Cheshire  Cat  Press 
(KL  55,  pp.  6-7)  has  come  out  with  a 


Cop'ic6SbOK((e>nts 


nice 


lovely  edition  of  an  essay  by  the  late 
Joe  Brabant,  Some  Observations  on 
Jabberwocky,  with  a  frontispiece  and 
a  tribute  to  Joe  by  Andy  Malcolm. 
Hand-set  type  in  boards,  $40  U.S.  73 
Berkshire  Ave.,  Toronto,  Ontario, 
Canada  M4M  2Z6.  1.416.469.3711. 

A  less  expensive  reprint  of  Martin 
Gardner's  classic  Annotated  Alice  has 
been  published  by  the  Wings  Books 
imprint  of  Random  House. 
0517189208. 

Pleasures  Taken:  Performances  of 
Sexuality  and  Loss  in  Victorian  Pho- 
tographs, by  Carol  Mavor  (U.N.C, 
Chapel  Hill).  Duke  University  Press, 
1995,  208  pp.,  49  photographs,  ISBN 
(cloth)  0-8223-1603-X,  $48,  ISBN 
(paper)  0-8223-1619-6,  $18  Consid- 
ers questions  of  loss  and  sexuality  in 
photographs  by  Dodgson,  Cameron, 
and  Hannah  Cullwick. 

Noted  in  the  Lewis  Carroll  Review  of 
the  Lewis  Carroll  Society  (U.K.) 

Lewis  Carroll,  introduction  de  Colin 
Ford,  Collection  Photo  Poche,  Paris, 
1998,  2097541232  reprints  photo- 
graphs, many  never  befor  seen,  of  the 
"Carroll  Through  the  Viewfinder" 
exhibition  at  the  National  Gallery  of 
Wales  last  year.  An  English  language 
edition  will  be  forthcoming. 

Pictures  of  Innocence:  the  History 
and  Crisis  of  Ideal  Childhood,  Anne 
Higonnet,  Thames  &  Hudson,  1998, 
0500280487  examines  popular 
culture's  concept  of  childhood  via 
visual  images,  including  CLD's  pho- 
tography. 

Alice  and  Dinah:  New  Tales  from 
Wonderland,  Michele  Brown,  ill. 
Paula  Martyr,  Madcap  (Andre 
Deutsch),  1998.  Humpty  Dumpty's 
Magic  Garden,  The  White  Rabbit's 
Red  Nose,  etc.  A  series  of  24  page 
children's  books  . 


New  publications  from  the  Lewis 
Carroll  Society  (U.K.) 

For  prices  and  ordering  information, 
write  to  Mitchell  Templeton,  84 
Spottiswoode  Street,  Edinburgh,  EH9 
1  DJ,  U.K. 

Lewis  Carroll  -  Bibliophile  by  Jef- 
frey Stern.  This  is  an  updated  version 
of  Lew  is  Carroll's  Library  with  a 
much  needed  index 

Lewis  Carroll,  Child  of  the  North, 
by  Anne  Clark  Amor.  This  book  looks 
at  Carroll's  early  life,  illustrated  with 
photographs  and  drawings 

Mr.  Dodgson:  Nine  Lewis  Carroll 
Studies.  Papers  by  Philip  Dodgson 
Jacques,  Anne  Clark,  Selwyn 
Goodacre,  Ivor  Davies,  Tony  Beale, 
Denis  Crutch,  Graham  Ovendon, 
Mary  Crutch  and  John  Davis 

Lewis  Carroll  &  Hatfield  House 
contains  an  essay  by  John  Davis  on 
"Lewis  Carroll  and  the  Cecils"  and  a 
letter  and  drawings  by  Carroll 

Letters  to  Skeffington  Dodgson 
from  his  Father  with  an  introduction 
and  notes  by  Anne  Clark  Amor 

Presentation  Copies  of  AW,  com- 
piled by  Edward  Wakeling 

Articles 

"One  for  the  Pages"  in  The  Washing- 
ton Post  12/9/98  discusses  Phila- 
delphia's Rosenbach  Museum  and  Li- 
brary and  its  Carroll  holdings. 

'"Alice  in  Wonderland'  Syndrome  and 
Varicella"  (letter)  in  The  Pediatric  In- 
fectious Disease  Journal,  Vol.  17,  No. 
10,  Oct.  '98;  "Somesthetic  aura:  the 
experience  of  AW  (letter)  in  The  Lan- 
cet, Vol.  352,  8/15/98;  "Cerebral  Per- 
fusion in  Children  with  AW  Syndrome" 
in  Pediatric  Neurology,  Vol.19  #2, 
Aug.  '98. 

"Lewis,  Carroll,  and  Seeing  Through 
the  Looking  Glass"  in  the  Australasian 
Journal  of  Philosophy,  Vol.  76  #3, 
Sep. '98  discourses  on  Humean 
supervenience  as  discussed  by  (David) 


18 


Lewis  and  (John)  Carroll,  [definitely 
a  "McGuffin"] 

In  the  January  '99  issue  of  Cricket,  a 
children's  magazine,  there  is  a  6-page 
article  titled  "The  Man  Who  Wrote  in 
Purple  Ink"  by  Emily  Rhoads  Johnson, 
focusing  on  Carroll's  letter-writing 
habits,  and  including  some  photos, 
puzzles  and  games. 

Communication  Arts,  Jan/Feb  '99,  has 
an  article  on  illustrator  Natalie 
Ascencios,  whose  A  W painting  can  also 
be  seen  at  http://www.theispot.com/ 
portfolio/portfo.htm?client=  1 8 1 

The  December  issue  of  Attache,  US 
Airways  inflight  magazine,  has  for  its 
cover  story  "Collectors  Take  Flight 
with  the  Art  of  Childhood",  on 
children's  illustrated  literature,  and  fea- 
tures prominently  LCSNA  member  and 
children's  rare  book  dealer  JoAnn 
Reisler. 

A  wonderfully  full,  definitive  and  de- 
tailed history  of  the  stamps  issued  over 
the  years  by  various  countries  to  honor 
CLD,  his  characters,  and  even  his 
brother,  the  Rev.  Edwin  (resident  mis- 
sionary in  Tristan  da  Cunha),  was  in  the 
November  '98  issue  of  Scott  Stamp 
Monthly,  [and  who  said  philately  will 
get  you  nowhere?] 

Lectures,  Events  and  Exhibitions 

Dr.  Sandor  Burstein  was  a  Distin- 
guished Lecturer  at  the  Napa  City- 
County  Library  Foundation  on  Novem- 
ber 15th,  discussing  Lewis  Carroll. 

Morton  Cohen  will  lecture  on  "The 
Paradoxical  Lewis  Carroll"  March 
31st  at  Waterloo  University  (Ontario), 
followed  the  next  day  with  a  seminar 
for  students. 

"The  Advent  of  Alice:  A  Celebration  of 
the  Carroll  Centenary"  will  be  on  view 
at  the  Rosenbach  Museum  and  Library 
in  Philadelphia  from  November  24th 
through  March  14,  1999.  Dr.  A.S.W 
Rosenbach  had  very  close  association 
with  Carroll  material:  he  twice  owned 
the  original  manuscript,  and  presented 
it  to  the  British  Museum.  Unusual 
items  on  display  include  Dodgson's 
passport  and  pocket  watch,  and  several 
original  Tenniel  drawings.  A  48-page 


illustrated  catalog  with  an  essay  by  our 
Donald  Rackin  will  be  published,  and 
he  will  be  giving  a  four-part  lecture 
series  on  Thursday  evenings,  January 
2 1  st  -  February  1 1  th.  Other  lectures  are 
also  being  scheduled  on  February  10th 
(Greer  Allen  on  the  Snark)  and  March 
10th  (by  visiting  curator  Diane 
Waggoner).  The  Rosenbach  is  located 
at  2010  DeLancey  Place,  Philadelphia 
PA  19103. 

The  U.C.L.A.  Library  Department  of 
Special  Collections  presented  "Pic- 
tures Worth  a  Thousand  Words:  AW  Il- 
lustrated" by  Scripps  College  Profes- 
sor Dr.  Eric  Haskell  on  6  December, 
followed  by  a  tea  party  and  a  viewing 
of  the  exhibition. 

The  Modern  Language  Association  an- 
nual convention  in  San  Francisco  had  a 
panel  "After  Alice:  Lewis  Carroll  and 
Children's  Literature"  on  December 
27th. 

Professor  Robin  Wilson  of  the  Open 
University  (U.K.)  delivered  a  talk  on 
"The  Mathematics  of  Lewis  Carroll"  at 
the  annual  joint  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Mathematical  Society  /  Mathemati- 
cal Association  of  America  in  San  An- 
tonio, TX,  13  January  1999. 

Artist  Guy  Jacqmin  invited  26  other 
artists  to  create  works  on  Alician 
themes  which  were  exhibited  at  several 
galleries  in  and  around  Paris,  and  ac- 
companied by  many  parties  and  recep- 
tions in  December. 

The  Vermont  Center  for  the  Book's 
conference  in  Fairlee  on  November 
2nd  presented  workshops  in  AW  and 
"paradigm  shifts,  reality,  and  transfor- 
mations". 

Alice  Under  Water,  written  and  di- 
rected by  Kish  Song  Bear,  Exit  Stage 
Left,  San  Francisco,  November  17-21 
is  an  amalgam  of  AW  With.  Dario  Fo's 
Alice  in  Wonderless  Land.  Alice  sinks 
to  the  bottom  of  the  Pool  of  Tears, 
meets  her  Author,  and  ends  up  going 
through  some  "abjectly  sexual  epi- 
sodes". 

Alice's  Adventures  Underground  by 
Anne  Bogart,  at  the  Saratoga  Interna- 
tional Theater  Institute  in  Columbus, 


Ohio,  November  5-8  "takes  off  from 
Lewis  Carroll's  original  text  [and]... is 
also  informed  by  the  darker  realities 
of  [his]  life  and  ways."  Presented  at  the 
Wexner  Center  with  the  support  of  the 
National  Endowment  for  the  Arts. 

The  Dallas  Theater  Center  is  currently 
preparing  the  world  premiere  produc- 
tion of  Alice:  Tales  of  a  Curious  Girl, 
a  play  by  Karen  Hartman  in  March  '99. 
There  will  also  be  a  lecture  on  March 
7th. 

Liber  et  Imago,  a  cultural  center  in 
Turin,  Italy,  dealing  with  historical  stud- 
ies on  children's  books,  organized  a 
small  exhibition  of  Alice  books  in  the 
Italian  language  from  1872  to  1960,  at 
the  Fogola  Galleria  Dantesca  in  Turin 
(16-30  December,  1998).  They  also 
presented  the  book  Quando  Alice 
incontrd  Pinocchio  (ed.  Pompeo 
Vagliani),  an  analysis  on  the  presence 
and  influence  of  English  authors  and 
illustrators  on  Italian  children's  books 
from  1870  to  1950  and  a  survey  of  Ital- 
ian translations  of  Alice  books  from 
1872  to  1960,  published  by  Trauben 
Editore  Torino,  http://www.arpnet.it/ 
liber/;  ber@arpnet.it 

The  Children's  Museum  of  Eastern 
Oregon  in  Pendleton  opened  August  1 . 
One  of  its  important  exhibits  is  "Lit- 
erature: Alice  in  Wonderland".  (After 
a  few  years,  other  classic  books  will 
be  featured).  It  is  a  "hands-on,  interac- 
tive" experience,  with  a  history  of  the 
books,  biographies,  poetry,  puzzles, 
paintings,  statues,  an  Ames  Distorted 
Room,  where  "you  can  appear  to  grow 
and  shrink  like  Alice,  when  viewed 
through  the  oversized  keyhole",  a  com- 
puterized chess  set  with  an  assortment 
of  chess  puzzles  (Martin  Gardner  was 
a  consultant),  and  so  on.  400  S.Main 
Street  or  contact  P.O.Box  1723,  Pen- 
dleton, OR  97801;  1.541.276.  1066, 
erickson@ucinet.com. 

A  "Media  Dome"  was  recently  erected 
in  Kitakyushu,  Japan.  Its  main  business 
is  bicycle-racing  and  its  attendant  bet- 
ting, but  to  make  it  a  more  family-ori- 
ented place,  they  installed  a  multime- 
dia "Alice  Lab"  and  Carroll  museum 
with  the  help  of  the  LCSJ.  There's  a 
"Humpty  Dumpty  Theater"  and  a 


19 


KNIGHT  LETTER,  THE  JOURNAL  OF  THE  LEWIS  CARROLL  SOCIETY  OF  NORTH  AMERICA,  NUMBER  59,  WINTER  1 999 


"Cheshire  Cat  Virtual  Town"  as  well. 
www.mediadome.co.jp. 

TV 

NBC  television  has  the  following  an- 
nouncement on  its  "Upcoming 
Projects"  section  of  its  website  (http:/ 
/www.  nbc.com/tvcentral/mms/ 
fr_index.html):  "The  NBC  motion  pic- 
ture event  'Alice  in  Wonderland',  star- 
ring Tina  Majorino  and  an  international 
cast  including  Whoopi  Goldberg,  Ben 
Kingsley,  Sir  Peter  Ustinov,  Miranda 
Richardson,  Gene  Wilder,  Christopher 
Lloyd,  George  Wendt,  and  Martin  Short 
will  leave  viewers  'curiouser  and 
curiouser'  as  young  Alice  (Majorino) 
goes  through  the  looking  glass  to  a  land 
where  forward  is  backward,  up  is  down 
and  anything  imaginable  is  possible. 
This  spellbinding  literary  fantasy 
comes  alive  with  brilliant  effects  from 
London's  FrameStore  ('Merlin'),  and 
colorful  landscapes,  incredible  adven- 
tures and  unforgettable  characters  from 
The  Jim  Henson  Creature  Shop.  Rob- 
ert Halmi  Sr.  is  executive  producer,  and 
special  effects  wizard  Nick  Willing 
('Photographing  Fairies')  directs  from 
a  teleplay  by  Peter  Barnes."  Plays  Sun- 
day, Feb.  28,  8-11  p.m  in  the  U.S.  and 
Sunday,  May  23  in  the  U.K. 

Cyberspace 

An  interactive  version  of  Lewis 
Carroll's  "Logic  Game"  at  http:// 
www.cut-the-knot.com/LewisCarroll/ 

The  Jabberwock,  a  B&B  in  Monterey 
CA,  now  has  a  website:  www.jaber 
wockinn.com.  Or  1.888.428.7253. 

A  sumptuously  illustrated  edition  for 
"bedside  reading"  is  on  the  web  at  http:/ 


/the-office. com/bedtime-story /clas- 
sics-aliceinwonderland.htm.  Combin- 
ing the  work  of  nine  historic  artists 
(Maria  Kirk,  Arthur  Rackham,  Bessie 
Pease  Gutmann,  Mabel  Attwell, 
A.E.Jackson,  Gwynedd  Hudson,  Jessie 
Willcox  Smith,  and  Carroll  and  Tenniel 
of  course),  and  two  contemporary 
(Disney  and  Marshall  Vandruff),  "Bed- 
time Stories"  has  constructed  a  jewel 
of  an  edition.  Their  "Background"  is 
superb,  and  this  site  is  highly  recom- 
mended. Of  course,  for  such  a  heavily 
pictorial  URL,  the  download  time 
could  be  considerable. 

Wholepop  Magazine  Online  has  cre- 
ated an  animated  Screensaver,  based  on 
the  Tenniel  drawing,  called  "Who  Stole 
the  Pop-Tarts".  http://www. wholepop. 
com/features/toasters/whostole_ 
poptarts.html 

Michael  King,  author  of  Lorien  Lost 
(see  "Leaves"  in  KL  54)  had  an  on-line 
contest  for  new  versions  of 
"Jabberwocky"  co-sponsored  by  The 
Page  One  Online  Literary  Newsletter 
(http://members.aol.com/FICTWRI/ 
pagel.html).  It  was  won  by  Peter 
Wesley-Smith's ,  "Jubjubby",  which  was 
written  for  his  1986  musical  "Boo- 
jum!". 

Alice  "morphs"  into  various  zoologi- 
cal forms  in  a  page  honoring  Dodgson's 
photography:  http://www.lunatus.com/ 
alice.html. 

The  "dynamic  text"  version  (an  online 
teaching  aid,  with  animations  &  music) 
is  free  from  Sundance  Software  at 
http://www.megabrands.com/alice. 
There's  also  a  chat  room  and  a  pointer 
to  the  same  version  in  Italian.  A  full 


download  is  also  available  for  $15. 

A  stunning  portfolio  of  Dodgson's  pho- 
tographs from  the  Princeton  collection 
can  be  seen  at  http://libserv3. 
Princeton.EDU/rbsc2/portfolio/port- 
folio.  html. 

No  seeker  of  rare  books  should  ever 
be  without  a  bookmark  to  www. 
bibliocity.com,  www.bibliofind.com, 
and  the  Advanced  Book  Exchange 
(www.abebooks.com).  They  are  fantas- 
tically efficient  resources. 

Artifacts 

The  lovely  Audrey  Buckner  silk  ties 
with  colored  renditions  of  the  Tenniel 
characters  are  now  being  sold  in  the 
J.Peterman  "Gift  Book  #3"  catalog. 
Black  or  Red,  $98.  For  some  reason 
the  copy  reads  "Slip  some  dark,  dark 
chocolate  into  your  pocket  when  wear- 
ing this  tie."  Yuch.  1.800.231.  7341; 
www.jpeterman.com;  1318  Russell 
Cave  Road,  Lexington  KY  40505. 

A  roller-printed  cotton  chintz  necktie 
of  a  1920  CFA  Voysey  design  in  the 
prints  and  drawings  collection  of  the 
Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  a  com- 
panion to  the  silk  scarf  in  the  same  de- 
sign, is  now  available,  www.vam.ac.uk; 
+44.171.938.8438. 

A  photo  album/scrapbook,  complete 
with  black  mounting  corners,  and  '"It's 
a  poor  sort  of  memory  that  only  works 
backwards,'  the  Red  Queen  remarked 
—  Lewis  Carroll"  on  the  front,  from 
Chronicle  Books  for  $30.  85  Second 
St.,  San  Francisco  CA  94105; 
www.chronbooks.com;  1.800. 722. 
6657. 

"Far-flung"  continues  on  p.  15 


For  help  in  preparing  this  issue  thanks  are  due  to:  Fran  Abeles,  Sandor  Burstein,  Llisa  Demetrios,  Lester  Dickey, 
Jonathan  Handel,  August  Imholtz,  Janet  Jurist,  Katsuko  Kasai,  Lucille  Posner,  Muriel  Ratcliffe,  Bea  Sidaway,  Genevieve 
Brunet  Smith,  Alan  Tannenbaum,  and  Cindy  Watter. 

Knight  Letter  is  the  official  newsletter  of  the  Lewis  Carroll  Society  of  North  America.  It  is  published  several  times 
a  year  and  is  distributed  free  to  all  members.  Subscriptions,  business  correspondence,  and  inquiries  should  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  Secretary,  18  Fitzharding  Place,  Owing  Mills  MD  21117.  Annual  membership  dues  are  U.S.  $20 
(regular)  and  $50  (sustaining).  Submissions  and  editorial  correspondence  should  be  sent  to  the  Editor,  Box  2006, 
Mill  Valley  CA  94942. 

President:  Stephanie  Stoffel,  StephStoff@aol.com  Secretary:  Ellie  Luchinsky,  eluchin@erols.com 

Editor:  Mark  Burstein,  wrabbit@worldpassage.net 
Lewis  Carroll  Society  of  North  America  Home  Page:  http://www.lewiscarroll.org/ 


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